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THE 


SWISS  FAMILY  ROBINSON 


IN  WORDS  OF 


One  Syllable. 


BY 


MARY    GODOLPHIN, 

AUTHOR  OF   "ROBINSON   CRUSOE   IN   WORDS   OF  ONE  SELLABLE, "    "EVENINGS 
AT   HOME   IN    WORDS   OF   ONE   SYLLABLE." 


PHILADELPHIA : 
CLAXTON,  REMSEN  &  HAFFELFINGER, 

819  &  821  MARKET  STREET. 
1869 


BY   THE   SAME   AUTHOR, 

Uniform 

with  this  Edition  of   " 
Robinson." 

The  Swiss  Family 

ROBINSON 

CRUSOE  IN  WORDS 

OF  ONE  SYLLABLE, 

With  Coloured  Illustrations,  price 

$1.50  cloth  extra. 

EVENINGS 

AT  HOME  IN  WORDS 

OF  ONE   SYLLABLE, 

With  Coloured  Illustrations,  price 

^$1.50   cloth  extra. 

PREFACE. 

The  kind  reception  given  to  the 
author's  system  of  writing  in  words  of 
one  syllable  has  encouraged  her  to  add 
to  her  works  the  popular  story  of 
"  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson "  as  a 
twin  book  to  "  Robinson  Crusoe." 
The  monosyllabic  rule  has  been  strictly 
adhered  to  throughout,  the  only  excep- 
tion occurring  necessarily  in  the  title  of 
the  book  itself.  The  author's  object 
has  been  to  provide  what  the  reviewer 
of  her  former  works  in  the  Athenczum 
has  called  "  a  field  of  exercise  for  a 
child  who  has  just  learnt  to  conquer 
words."  "  There  is  sure  to  be  some 
success,"  he  continues  ;  "  and  it  is  a 
great  point  in  all  teaching  to  let  the 
^  first  independent  exercise  be  one  in 
%  which  victory  is  really  to  be  won  by 
£  moderate  effort." 


THE 

SWISS  FAMILY  ROBINSON. 


CHAPTER     I. 

For  six  days  a  fierce  wind  set  in,  which 
tore  our  sails  to  shreds  ;  the  white  foam 
of  the  waves  swept  our  decks,  and  the 
storm  drove  our  ship  so  far  out  of  its 
course,  that  there  was  no  one  on  board 
who  could  tell  where  we  wTere.  All 
were  worn  out  with  toil  and  care,  and  the 
oaths  of  the  men  were  heard  no  more, 
but  they  fell  on  their  knees  to  pray. 

My  wife  and  boys  clung  round  me 
in  great  dread ;  but  I  said  to  them, 
"  God  can  save  us  if  He  will.  He 
knows  each  rock  that  lies  hid,  and 
sees  each  storm  as  it  comes;  yet  if  He 


2  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

should  think  it  good  to  call  us  to 
Him,  let  us  not  grieve  at  it:  we  shall 
not  part."  At  these  words  I  saw  my 
wife  dry  her  tears,  and  from  that  time 
she  was  more  calm. 

All  at  once  we  heard  the  cry  of 
"  Land  !  Land  !  "  The  ship  had  struck 
on  a  rock,  and  the  force  of  the  shock 
with  which  she  went  threw  us  off  our 
feet. 

Then  came  a  loud  crack  as  if  the 
ship  had  split  in  two,  when  we  heard 
the  chief  mate  call  out,  "  Launch  the 
boats !"  ,  These  words  went  like  a 
sword  through  my  heart,  and  the 
cries  of  my  boys  grew  more  and  more 
shrill. 

"  Fear  not,  my  dear  ones,"  said  I  ; 
"  the  ship  still  lifts  us  out  of  the  sea, 
and  the  land  is  near.  Stay  here,  and 
I  will  try  to  save  you." 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  3 

I  went  on  deck,  but  was  soon  thrown 
down  by  the  wild  surge  of  the  sea. 
Once  more  there  came  a  wave  of  such 
huge  bulk  that  I  strove  with  it  in 
vain,  and  fell  flat  on  the  deck. 

The  ship  was  all  but  in  two.  The 
whole  of  the  crew  had  got  in  the  boat, 
and  I  could  see  the  last  man  cut  the 
rope.  I  gave  a  loud  call  for  them  to  wait 
till  we  could  join  them ;  but  from  the 
roar  of  the  waves  my  voice  was  not 
heard,  and  all  hope  from  the  boat  was 
lost. 

The  stern,  which  held  those  most 
dear  to  me  on  earth,  stood  like  a  wedge, 
with  a  rock  on  each  side  of  it.  I  could 
see  in  the  south  a  trace  of  land,  which 
though  wild  and  bare,  was  now  the 
aim  of  all  my  hopes ;  for  there  was  no 
more  aid  to  be  had  from  man. 

I   left  the  deck  to   go   down  to  my 

R    2 


4  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

wife  and  boys.  I  then  put  on  a  calm 
look,  and  said,  "  Be  of  good  cheer.  If 
the  wind  should  go  down  we  may  yet 
reach  the  land." 

This  made  my  dear  boys  dry  their 
tears,  for  at  all  times  they  put  their 
trust  in  what  I  told  them.  But  my 
wife,  who  knew  best  how  to  read  my 
thoughts,  saw  how  full  of  care  they 
were ;  and  by  a  sign  I  made  known 
to  her  that  I  had  not  much  hope  that 
the  wind  would  go  down. 

"  Let  us  take  some  food,"  said  she ; 
"  it  will  give  us  strength." 

Night  came  on,  and  it  grew  dark  ; 
we  heard  the  wild  waves  boil  with  rage, 
and  they  tore  down  the  planks  with 
a  loud  crash.  "  How  could  the  boats 
live  through  such  a  storm  as  this  ? " 
thought  I. 

The  boys  went  to  bed  and  slept,  all 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  5 

but  Fritz,  whom  I  took  with  me  on 
deck  to  watch.  He  and  I  could  swim  ; 
but  as  the  rest  could  not,  we  set  our 
thoughts  to  work  out  some  plan  by 
which  we  could  get  them  to  land, 
should  the  ship  break  up. 

There  were  casks  on  board,  *and  we 
thought  we  might  bind  two  of  them  fast 
with  ropes,  and  leave  a  space  in  which 
to  place  one  of  the  boys,  who  might  put 
an  arm  in  each  cask,  and  so  float  to 
shore  ;  the  same  for  the  rest  of  them, 
and  one  for  my  wife.  We  put  by 
some  knives,  string,  and  such  like 
things,  which  we  thought  might  be 
of  use  in  case  we  should  reach  the 
coast. 

At  length  Fritz,  worn  out  with  hard 
work,  fell  to  sleep.  My  wife  and  I 
had  too  much  on  our  minds  for  rest. 
We  brought  the  load  of  our  grief,  our 


6  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

doubts,  and  fears,  to  the  throne  of  God, 
and  left  them  there  ;  for  we  did  our 
best  not  to  give  way  to  them,  lest  they 
should  chill  our  sense  of  God's  love, 
and  dry  up  the  spring  of  our  faith  in 
His  might. 

Oh,  how  the  time  did  seem  to  lag 
with  us  through  that  long  dark  night ! 
But,  like  all  things  else,  it  came  to  an 
end  at  last.  Words  are  too  weak  to 
tell  of  the  joy  with  which  I  saw  from 
the  deck  the  first  faint  streak  of  dawn 
shoot  up  the  sky. 

The  wind  was  now  more  calm,  the 
sea  less  rough,  and  this  brought  a  ray 
of  hope  to  my  heart.  I  went  to  fetch 
my  wife  and  boys  on  deck  ;  and  the 
young  ones  were  struck  with  awe  to 
find  no  one  there.  "  The  crew,  where 
are  they  ? "  said  they.  "  Who  works 
the  ship  ? " 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  7 

"  My  boys,"  said  I,  "  One  more 
strong  than  man  has  brought  us  through 
it  till  now,  and  if  He  think  fit  He 
will  stretch  out  His  arm  to  save  us. 
Let  all  hands  set  to  work,  and  think 
the  while  on  this,  God  helps  us 
when  we  help  those  round  us.  Now 
we  must  think  of  what  it  will  be  best 
for  us  to  do." 

Fritz. — "  Let  us  leap  in  the  sea  and 
swim  to  shore." 

Ned. — "  That  may  do  well  for  you 
who  can  swim  ;  but  all  the  rest  of  us 
would  sink.  Can  we  not  make  a  raft 
on  which  we  could  all  go  ? " 

"  That  might  do,"  said  I,  "if  we 
had  strength  for  the  work,  and  if  a 
raft  were  a  more  safe  thing  to  go  to 
land  on.  But  set  off,  boys,  all  of  you, 
and  seek  for  what  there  is  on  board 
that  may  be  of  use  to  us." 


8  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson, 

As  for  me,  I  made  my  way  to 
where  the  food  was  kept,  and  my  wife 
went  to  the  live  stock  and  fed  them, 
for  they  were  much  in  want  of  food. 
Fritz  sought  for  arms,  and  Ned  for 
tools.  Jack,  by  chance,  went  were  the 
Chief  Mate's  two  great  dogs  were 
kept,  who  leapt  on  him  in  play,  and 
were  so  rough  that  he  gave  a  cry,  as 
he  thought  they  meant  to  tear  him ; 
but  want  of  food  had  made  them  too 
weak  to  be  fierce,  and  in  a  short  time 
he  got  up  from  where  he  fell,  and  rode 
on  the  back  of  one  of  the  dogs,  and 
with  a  grave  look  came  up  to  me  as 
I  left  the  hold  whence  I  had  been 
drawn  by  his  cries.  I  could  not  keep 
a  smile  from  my  face  when  I  told  him 
of  the  great  risk  he  had  run,  and  that 
he  ought  to  be  on  his  guard  with  dogs 
that  had  been  kept  from  food  so  long. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  g 

Now  my  boys  all  came  round  me 
with  their  stores.  Fritz  had  found  six 
guns,  some  bags  of  shot,  and  some 
horn  flasks,  and  these  held  all  that  we 
could  want  for  the  use  of  our  arms. 
Ned  brought  an  axe,  a  spade,  knives, 
nails,  and  the  like ;  but  young  Frank 
brought  a  large  box,  which  it  was  as 
much  as  he  could  do  to  hold,  and  when 
the  rest  of  the  lads  saw  what  was  in 
it,  they  gave  a  loud  laugh.  "  You  may 
laugh  if  you  will,"  said  I,  "  but  Frank 
has  brought  the  best  prize  of  all,  for 
these  fish  hooks,  of  which  I  see  the 
box  is  full,  may  save  our  lives  ;  still 
Fritz  and  Ned  have  done  well  too." 

"  For  my  part,"  said  my  wife,  "  I  do 
but  bring  good  news.  I  have  found 
a  cow,  an  ass,  two  goats,  six  sheep,  and 
a  sow.  I  have  fed  them,  and  I  hope 
they  will  do  well." 


io  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

I  told  my  boys  that  I  thought  they 
had  all  done  great  things,  save  Jack. 
"  But,"  said  I,  "he  has  brought  me 
two  great  mouths  to  fill,  which  will  do 
more  harm  than  good." 

Jack. — "  The  dogs  can  help  us  to 
hunt  when  we  get  to  land." 

"Ah!"  said  I,  "but  can  you  tell 
us  how  to  reach  the  land  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  my  brave  Frank,  "  put 
us  each  in  a  great  tub  and  let  us  float 
to  shore.  I  went  on  Aunts  pond  in 
one." 

"  A  good  thought ! "  said  I  ;  "we  may 
take  a  hint  from  a  child.  Be  quick, 
boys,  give  me  the  saw,  with  some 
nails,  and  we  will  see  what  we  can 
do." 

I  found  some  casks  in  the  ship's 
hold,  which  we  brought  on  deck  ;  they 
were  made  of  strong  wood,  and  were 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  1 1 

bound  with  hoops  ;  in  fact,  were  just 
the  right  thing.  My  boys  and  I  cut 
each  of  these  four  casks  in  two  with 
our  saw ;  but  it  was  a  work  of  great 
toil  to  join  eight  tubs,  so  as  to  make 
them  all  the  same  height. 

We  drank  some  wine  which  we  found 
in  one  of  the  casks,  and  this  gave  us  fresh 
strength  for  our  work.  At  last  our  job 
came  to  an  end,  and  we.  saw  with  joy 
our  small  fleet  of  boats  all  in  a  line  ; 
yet  I  could  not  guess  how  it  was  that 
my  wife  should  be  still  so  sad  at  heart. 

"  I  could  not  trust  my  life  in 
one  of  those  tubs ! "  said  she.  But 
I  told  her  to  wait  till  the  work  was 
done.  I  then  sought  out  a  long  thin 
plank,  and  put  the  tubs  on  it ;  but 
left  a  piece  at  each  end  to  form  a  curve 
like  the  keel  of  a  ship.  We  then 
drove  in  nails  to  make  the  tubs  firm 


1 2  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

to  the  planks,  and  in  the  same  way 
put  boards  on  each  side  of  it,  so  as 
to  make  a  sort  of  boat,  which  I  thought 
might  float  in  a  calm  sea. 

But  to  our  grief  we  found  that  our 
raft  was  of  such  a  weight  that  we  could 
not  move  it  an  inch.  I  sent  Fritz  to 
bring  me  the  jack  screw,  and  with  this 
and  a  thick  pole  I  found  I  could  lift 
one  end  of  the  boat.  Ned  said  he 
thought  the  screw  was  slow.  "  What 
we  gain  in  time  we  lose  in  force,"  said 
I.  "  The  jack  is  not  meant  to  move 
fast,  but  to  raise  weights  ;  and  the  more 
weight  there  is,  of  course  the  more  slow 
it  must  be."  I  then  took  a  strong  rope 
to  fix  to  the  stern  of  the  boat,  one  end 
of  which  I  bound  fast  to  the  beam 
of  the  ship.  I  next  put  two  round 
poles  for  the  boat  to  roll  on,  and  went 
to  work  with  the  jack  to  launch  it. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  1 3 

The  boys  all  stood  on  the  ship's  deck 
in  great  joy  to  see  it  glide  off,  and  then 
float  like  a  swan  on  the  waves ;  and 
had  it  not  been  for  the  rope,  it  would 
have  gone  off  to  sea.  But  our  raft 
leant  so  much  to  one  side  that  there 
was  not  one  of  the  boys  who  would 
dare  to  go  in  it. 

At  this  I  was  quite  cast  down,  when 
all  at  once  I  thought  the  cause  must 
be  that  it  was  too  light :  so  I  threw  in 
all  I  could  lay  hold  of,  and  soon  made 
my  boat  fit  for  use. 

"  Which  of  us  is  to  go  in  first  ? "  said 
the  boys,  who  all  made  a  rush  at  once. 
But  this  I  put  a  stop  to,  as  I  thought 
that — full  of  fun  as  they  were — they 
might  tip  the  boat  on  one  side,  and  get 
thrown  in  the  sea. 

It  was  now  time  to  clear  the  way  for 
the  flight.      I  got  in  one  of  the  tubs  and 


14  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

made  the  boat  fast  in  a  cleft  in  the 
ship's  side.  I  then  came  back  with 
an  axe  and  a  saw,  and  cut  off  from  the 
wreck,  right  and  left,  all  that  might 
come  in  our  way.  The  next  thing  was 
to  look  out  for  some  oars,  and  we  had 
the  good  luck  to  find  some. 

This  had  been  a  day  of  hard  work 
for  us  all.  One  more  night  was  to  be 
spent  on  board  the  wreck,  though  we 
knew  not  that  it  would  be  there  till  the 
dawn  of  the  next  day.  And  now  we 
sat  down  to  a  meal,  for  we  had  scarce 
had  time  to  snatch  a  piece  of  bread  all 
day.  We  then  went  to  rest,  and  were 
more  at  our  ease  than  we  had  been  on 
the  past  night. 

I  thought  the  best  thing  my  wife 
could  do  would  be  to  wear  the  dress  of 
a  youth  who  had  been  one  of  the  ship's 
crew,  as  it  would   be   more  warm,  and 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  1 5 

would  suit  the  raft  best,  and  be  most 
fit  for  all  the  toils  that  were  in  store  for 
her.  She  felt  strange  in  her  new  dress, 
but  at  last  I  saw  her  laugh  at  it,  as  did 
our  young  ones.  She  then  went  to  her 
berth  and  slept  well,  which  gave  her 
strength  for  the  next  day. 


CHAPTER    II. 

At  dawn  we  all  woke  up,  and  I  said, 
"  We  must  now,  my  dear  boys,  go  on 
the  wide  sea  in  search  of  a  home. 
Give  all  the  poor  beasts  on  board  the 
wreck  food  to  last  them  for  some  days. 
We  could  not  take  them  with  us,  but 
we  might  come  back  in  our  tubs  for 
them.  Are  you  all  here  ?  Get  what 
you  wish  to  take  with  you,  but  let  it  be 


1 6  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

things  that  will  meet  our  wants  when 
we  get  to  land." 

I  had  put  the  guns  on  our  raft,  and 
I  told  my  wife  and  the  lads  each  to 
seek  for  a  game  bag,  a  chest  of  tools 
and  nails,  and  sails  to  make  a  tent 
with  ;  and  the  boys  brought  so  much 
that  I  thought  we  must  leave  half, 
though  I  took  out  of  the  tubs  those 
things  which  I  had  thrown  in  to  give 
weight. 

Just  as  we  got  on  board  the  cock 
gave  a  loud  crow  as  a  hint  that  we  had 
left  no  food  for  him  and  the  hens.  So 
I  took  all  the  birds  with  us,  geese, 
ducks,  fowls,  and  doves.  We  put 
twelve  of  them  in  a  tub  with  a  lid 
to  it,  and  the  rest  we  let  loose,  in  the 
hopes  that  the  geese  and  ducks  might 
swim  to  shore,  and  the  fowls  and  doves 
fly  there. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  1 7 

Where  was  my  wife  all  this  time  ? 
She  came  at  last  with  a  huge  bag,  which 
she  threw  in  the  tub  that  held  her  dear 
Frank,  and  I  made  sure  it  was  meant 
for  a  seat  for  him. 

This  is  the  way  we  each  took  our 
place  on  the  raft: — In  the  first  tub  sat 
my  wife  ;  in  the  next,  Frank ;  in  the 
third,  Fritz,  a  good  big  boy,  with  sound 
sense  and  full  of  life  ;  in  the  fourth,  our 
dear  Jack,  ten  years  old,  yet  stout  of 
heart  ;  and  the  fifth  and  sixth  held  all 
sorts  of  food.  Then  in  the  next  tub 
stood  Ned,  who  was  twelve  years  old, 
with  more  thought  of  self  than  the  rest, 
and  slow  to  move.  I  was  in  the  eighth 
tub,  bent  on  my  task,  which  was  to 
guide  the  boat  that  held  all  that  was 
most  dear  to  me  in  this  world. 

As  we  left  the  wreck  the  tide  rose, 
which  I  thought  might  be  a  help  to  us. 


1 8  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

We  each  took  an  oar,  in  hopes  that  in 
the  end  we  should  reach  the  blue 
shore.  But,  oh,  how  far  off  it  did 
seem ! 

For  some  time  it  was  all  in  vain,  as 
the  boat  would  turn  round  and  round. 
But  at  last  I  found  the  way  to  steer  it 
so  as  to  make  it  go  straight  on. 

As  soon  as  the  two  dogs  saw  us 
leave  the  ship,  they  leapt  in  the  sea  and 
swam  up  to  us ;  but  though  my  boys 
had  a  great  wish  to  take  them  with  us, 
I  could  not  let  them  come  in  the  boat, 
lest  they  should  tip  it  down  on  one  side. 
This  was  a  source  of  great  grief  to  all, 
for  we  did  not  think  they  would  have 
the  strength  to  swim  to  shore.  Be  that 
as  it  might,  Spring  and  Flox  took  to 
the  waves  with  a  dash,  as  much  as  to 
say  they  did  not  mean  to  be  left.  They 
came  up  now  and  then  to  put  their  fore 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  19 

paws  on  the  raft,  and  by  this  means 
they  kept  up  with  us. 

We  went  on  and  on,  and  I  had  much 
doubt  if  we  should  reach  the  land. 
As  we  drew  near  to  it,  my  hopes  were 
the  more  faint,  so  drear  did  the  coast 
seem;  and,  worst  of  all,  it  had  a  dark 
ridge  of  rocks  in  front  of  it,  that  wore 
the  look  of  a  frown,  as  if  to  warn  us  off. 

Now  and  then  we  came  up  to  some 
casks  from  the  wreck,  and  we  drew 
them  with  us  all  the  way,  by  means 
of  a  rope.  We  did  not  cease  to  ply 
our  oars  till  we  got  to  the  coast,  and 
then,  to  our  great  joy,  we  found  a  break 
in  the  chain  of  the  rocks,  and  the  sharp 
eye  of  Fritz  made  out  some  trees.  I 
could  not  see  them,  but,  by  good  luck, 
Jack  had  brought  a  small  glass,  which 
he  drew  from  his  pouch  with  some 
pride,  and  gave  it  to  me.    ■  By  the  aid 

c  2 


20  The  Szuiss  Family  Robinson. 

of  this  I  saw  a  small  creek  with  rocks 
on  each  side  of  it ;  and  as  I  found  that 
the  ducks  and  geese  made  up  to  it, 
I  knew  it  was  all  right.  It  was,  in 
short,  a  small  bay,  and  there  we  got 
on  shore. 

All  who  could  do  so  leapt  to  land  in 
a  trice ;  and  our  poor  Frank,  who  had 
been  laid  down  in  his  tub  like  a  salt 
fish,  did  his  best  to  crawl  out,  but  had 
to  wait  for  my  wife  to  help  him.  The 
dogs,  which  were  the  first  to  get  to 
shore,  leapt  round  us  with  a  loud  bark ; 
the  ducks  and  the  geese  kept  up  their 
cry ;  and  the  fowls,  which  we  had  just 
let  loose,  lent  their  cluck.  All  these 
sounds,  with  the  noise  of  the  boys'  talk, 
made  a  strange  din. 

The  first  thing  we  did  when  we 
came  safe  to  land,  was  to  bow  down 
and   give   thanks    to    God,    in    whose 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  2 1 

hands  were  our  lives.  To  cast  off  our 
own  strength,  and  lay  hold  of  the 
Lord's,  is  the  way  to  be  strong — too 
strong  for  earth  and  hell  to  shake  us. 

If  we  make  God  our  guide,  how  can 
we  go  wrong?  If  we  make  Him  our 
shield,  why  need  we  fear?  If  we  make 
His  Word  the  lamp  of  our  feet,  how 
can  we  stray  ?  He  is  our  life,  our 
God,  our  all ;   the  Lord  is  our  strength. 

When  we  took  all  we  had  out  of  the 
boat — how  rich  we  felt  with  these  few 
things !  We  found  a  good  place  for 
our  tent  in  the  shade  of  the  rocks  :  so 
we  set  to  work  with  a  pole  and  pegs, 
and  then  we  brought  out  the  food. 

I  sent  my  sons  to  fetch  some  grass 
and  moss  to  spread  in  the  sun  to  dry, 
that  we  might  sleep  on  it  at  night,  and 
while  all  the  boys,  down  to  Frank, 
were  at  work  at  this,    I  found  a  place 


22  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

near  a  stream  for  us  to  cook  in.  The 
flat  stones  of  the  rock  made  a  good 
hearth,  and  it  did  not  take  long  to  light 
up  a  bright  fire  of  dry  twigs  ;  then 
I  put  in  the  pot  some  squares  of  the 
new  kind  of  soup,  and  left  my  wife  and 
Frank  to  cook  our  meal.  The  poor 
child  took  this  soup  for  glue,  and  said 
he  knew  not  how  he  could  dine  as  there 
was  no  meat  to  dress. 

To  land  the  guns  was  Fritz's  care, 
and  he  took  one  of  them  with  him  to 
the  side  of  the  stream.  Ned  would 
not  join  him,  for  the  rough  road  was 
not  to  his  taste :  so  he  bent  his  way  to 
the  coast.  Jack  set  off  to  a  ridge  of 
rocks  which  ran  down  to  the  sea 
to  look  for  shell  fish,  while  I  went 
to  try  and  draw  some  of  the  casks  on 
shore.  But  I  found  that  the  place 
where  I  had  come  to  land  was  too  steep 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  23 

to  get  them  up ;  so  I  went  in  search 
of  one  that  lay  more  on  a  line  with  the 
sea.  I  had  not  been  there  long  when 
I  heard  screams  from  my  dear  Jack. 
I  took  up  my  axe  and  ran  to  his  aid, 
and  found  him  up  to  his  knees  in  a 
pool  with  a  huge  crab,  which  held  his 
leg  tight  in  its  sharp  claw.  Though 
the  crab  made  off  when  I  came  up, 
I  did  not  lose  sight  of  it,  and  as  Jack 
had  a  mind  to  take  it  home,  I  gave 
it  to  him.  But  as  soon  as  he  took  the 
crab  in  his  hand,  it  gave  him  such  a 
blow  that  the  poor  boy  threw  it  off  and 
set  up  a  sad  wail  once  more,  and  it  was 
as  much  as  I  could  do  to  keep  a  smile 
from  my  lips.  In  a  great  rage  my  boy 
flung  a  large  stone  at  it,  which  put  an 
end  to  its  life.  When  we  came  back 
to  the  tent  Jack  said  in  a  loud  voice, 
"A  crab  !    Such  a  huge  crab  !     Ned  ! 


24  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

where's  Fritz  ?  Take  care  it  does  not 
bite  you,  Frank ! "  They  all  soon 
came  round  him.  "  Yes,  here's  the 
claw  that  caught  hold  of  my  leg,"  quoth 
Jack  ;  "  but  I  paid  him  out,  the  rogue  !  " 

" What  is  it  that  you  boast  of?"  said 
I.  "You  would  not  have  come  off  so 
well,  had  I  not  brought  you  aid  in  time  ; 
and,  pray,  do  you  not  call  to  mind  the 
blow  on  your  face  ?  The  poor  crab 
did  but  make  use  of  his  arms  to  save 
his  life ;  but  you  had  to  hurl  a  great 
stone  at  him  with  yours :  so  you  have 
no  cause  to  be  proud,  my  boy." 

Ned  thought  the  crab  would  be  a 
good  thing  to  put  in  the  soup,  but  my 
wife  set  it  by  for  the  next  day.  I  then 
went  to  that  part  of  the  shore  where 
it  had  been  caught,  and  drew  my  casks 
to  land  there. 

I  told  Jack  that  he  was  the  first  boy 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  25 

to  bring  us  food,  for  none  of  the  rest 
had  done  so. 

"  I  saw  some  shell  fish  on  a  rock," 
said  Ned  ;  "  but  I  could  not  get  at  them, 
for  the  sea  made  my  feet  wet." 

"  Nay,"  said  I,  "  I  must  beg  of  you 
to  get  us  some  then  ;  for  we  must  all 
work  for  the  good  of  the  rest,  and  take 
no  heed  of  wet  feet,  for  the  sun  soon 
dries  them." 

"  I  may  as  well  bring  some  salt  at 
the  same  time,"  said  he ;  "I  saw  lots 
of  it  in  the  cracks  of  the  rocks,  and 
I  think  it  must  have  been  left  there 
by  the  sea." 

"  No  doubt,  my  young  sage,"  said  I. 
"  Where  else  could  it  have  come  from  ? 
And  you  would  have  done  more  good 
to  fill  a  bag  with  it,  than  to  dwell  on 
the  laws  that  brought  it  there.  But 
if  you  wish  to  eat  your  soup  with  a  zest, 


26  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

be  quick  and  get  some  salt."  So  he 
set  off,  and  soon  came  back  with  some ; 
but  it  was  full  of  sand  and  earth. 

To  stir  the  pot  my  wife  made  use 
of  a  small  stick,  and  when  she  came  to 
taste  that  which  clung  to  it,  she  said, 
"  The  soup  is  good,  but  how  are  we 
to  drink  it  ?  We  have  brought  no 
plates  nor  spoons  !  And  how  can  we 
raise  this  large  pot  to  our  lips  ?  " 

We  all  cast  a  grave  look  at  the  pot- — 
our  grave  look  then  grew  to  a  dull  gaze 
— when  all  at  once  we  burst  out  in  a 
loud  laugh  at  our  sad  plight. 

"If  we  had  but  some  large  nuts," 
said  Ned,  "  we  might  split  them  and 
make  both  spoons  and  plates  of  them  ! " 

"  If,"  said  I  ;  "  but  we  have  none  ! 
We  might  as  well  wish  for  some  fine 
gold  spoons  with  our  coat  of  arms  on 
them,  if  it  were  of  use  to  wish." 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  2  7 

"  Well,"  said  Ned,  "  we  can  use 
shells." 

"  That  is  a  good  thought,"  said  I  ; 
"  set  off,  Ned,  at  once,  and  get  some. 
And  mind,  my  brave  boys,  no  grunts, 
and  groans,  though  we  find  it  hard  to 
hold  our  spoons,  and  you  should  have 
to  dip  your  hands  in  the  hot  soup." 

"At  these  words  off  ran  Jack,  who 
was  up  to  his  knees  in  the  sea  by  the 
time  that  Ned  had  got  to  the  spot. 
He  tore  down  the  shells  from  the  rocks 
and  threw  them  to  Ned,  who  put  them 
in  his  game  bag  (but  took  good  care  to 
let  a  large  one  fall  in  his  pouch  for  his 
own  use),  and  then  they  came  back 
with  their  spoil. 

Fritz  had  not  yet  come  home,  and 
my  wife  was  full  of  care  lest  all  was  not 
right  with  him  ;  but  just  then  we  heard 
his  voice  hail  us  some   way  off.      He 


28  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

soon  came  up  with  a  feint  that  he  was 
sad,  and  at  the  same  time  hid  his  hands. 
But  Jack,  who  took  a  peep,  said  in 
a  loud  voice  (by  way  of  a  joke),  "  Good 
sport ;  a  young  pig ! "  The  beast 
which  Fritz  had  shot  was  in  truth  no 
pig  at  all,  but  a  kind  of  hare,  which 
lives  on  nuts  and  fruit. 

Though  all  the  rest  of  the  boys  had 
a  wish  to  hear  Fritz  tell  of  what  he 
had  seen  and  done,  I  thought  it  right 
to  take  my  son  Jack  to  task  for  the 
false  tale  he  had  spread,  though  but 
in  jest. 

Fritz  told  us  he  had  been  on  the  left 
side  of  the  stream,  where  the  land  lies 
low  ;  and  "  as  to  the  casks,"  said  he, 
"  I  could  not  count  them,  to  say  not 
a  word  of  chests,  planks,  and  all  sorts 
of  things  from  the  wreck.  Should  we 
not   do   well    to   go    and  fetch    them  ? 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  29 

And  at  dawn  of  day  we  ought  to  go 
there  to  look  to  the  live  stock,  for  we 
must  at  least  have  the  cow :  our  bread 
cakes  would  not  be  half  so  hard  if 
we  had  some  milk  to  soak  them  in." 

Ned. — "  How  much  more  nice,  too, 
they  would  be  ! " 

Fritz. — "  Then  I  found  a  wood,  and 
some  rich  grass  for  the  cow.  I  can't 
see  why  we  should  stay  down  here,  in 
this  dull  nook." 

"  Stay,"  said  I,  "  we  are  but  just 
come  !  But  first  tell  me,  did  you  see 
a  trace  of  our  poor  ship  mates  ?" 

Fritz. — "  No  sign  at  all  of  man  on 
land  or  sea ;  but  I  saw  a  strange  sort 
of  beast  as  big  as  a  hog,  with  feet  like 
a  hare." 

The  time  had  now  come  to  sit  down 
to  our  meal  of  soup  ;  the  boys  all  burnt 
their  hands,  of  course,  save  Ned,  who 


30  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

took  his  large  shell  from  his  pouch,  and 
when  it  was  full  of  soup,  set  it  down  to 
cool,  quite  proud  of  it. 

"  You  have  shown  some  thought,  my 
dear  Ned,"  said  I  ;  "but  how  is  it  you 
take  so  much  more  care  of  your  own 
self  than  of  the  rest  ?  Now,  pray,  give 
what  is  in  the  large  shell  to  those  poor 
dogs.  We  can  all  dip  our  shells  in  the 
pot,  but  the  dogs  can't  do  so  :  so  they 
may  have  your  soup,  and  you  must  eat 
as  we  do." 

This  struck  the  heart  of  Ned,  and 
when  he  put  his  shell  on  the  ground 
the  dogs  took  their  meal  from  it.  As 
we  all  sat  with  our  eyes  cast  on  our 
shells  to  wait  for  the  soup  to  get  cool, 
the  dogs  fell  on  Fritz's  hare  (for  so  he  , 
chose  to  call  it).  All  the  boys  sprang 
up  to  drive  them  off;  but  Fritz,  in  a 
great  rage,  took  up  his  gun  and  struck 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  31 

one  of  them  with  the  stock  end  of  it, 
till  the  force  of  the  blows  bent  it,  and 
would  have  been  the  death  of  the  dog 
if  I  had  not  held  him  back.. 

As  soon  as  he  had  had  time  to  cool 
I  took  him  to  task,  and  told  him  he  had 
thrown  us  all  in  a  state  of  great  fear ; 
and,  what  was  still  worse,  he  had  spoilt 
the  gun,  which  might  have  been  of  so 
much  use  to  us ;  add  to  this  the  hard 
blows  he  gave  would  kill  most  dogs. 
"  Rage  such  as  this,"  said  I,  "  leads  to 
all  crime.  Do  you  not  know  what  Cain 
did  ? " 

"  Oh,"  said  Fritz,  "  I  grieve  to  think 
of  what  I  have  done." 

As  soon  as  we  had  had  our  meal 
the  fowls  came  round  us  to  pick  up  the 
crumbs.  My  wife  then  took  out  her 
bag,  and  fed  them  with  some  grain. 
When    they    had   had    their   fill,    our 


32  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

doves  flew  to  the  rocks,  the  fowls  took 
their  perch  on  the  tent,  and  the  ducks 
and  geese  went  to  roost  in  a  marsh  near 
the  sea. 

The  sun  sank  all  at  once,  and  it  was 
time  for  us  to  go  to  rest.  We  took 
care  to  load  the  guns,  then  knelt  down 
to  pray,  and  went  to  our  beds  of  moss  ; 
but,  hot  as  the  day  had  been,  we  found 
the  night  was  cold. 

Once  more  I  took  a  peep  out,  to  see 
if  all  was  still,  and  then  lay  down  to 
rest,  and  we  all  slept. 


CHAPTER     III. 

At  break  of  day  I  heard  the  cock 
crow ;  in  fact,  it  woke  me  from  my 
sleep.     The    first   thing   I    did  was  to 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  33 

rouse  up  my  wife,  and  tell  her  of  a  plan 
I  had  thought  of,  which  was  to  go  all 
round  the  coast  of  the  isle  in  search 
of  our  friends  from  the  wreck,  and  she 
thought  as  I  did,  that  this  ought  to  be 
our  first  care. 

My  wife,  who  saw  that  we  could  not 
ull  go,  said  she  would  stay  where  she 
was  with  her  three  young  ones,  while 
Fritz  and  I  went  on  our  search.  I 
told  her  that  to  get  back  by  the  light  of 
day  we  must  start  at  once,  and  should 
want  a  good  meal  first ;  yet  what  was 
there  for  us  to  eat  ?  "  Jack's  great 
crab  will  be  the  thing,"  said  she  ;  but 
it  was  not  to  be  found.  So  whilst  my 
wife  made  up  the  fire  and  put  on  the 
pot,  I  woke  up  the  boys.  "  Where  is 
the  crab?"  said  I  to  Jack;  and  he 
brought  it  from  a  hole  in  the  rock, 
where  he  had  put  it  to  be  out  of  the 

D 


34  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

reach  of  the  dogs,  which  ate  up  all  that 
they  could  find.  Said  I  to  Jack, 
"  Will  you  give  up  your  crab  to  Fritz  ? 
We  think  the  claw  that  caught  hold 
of  your  leg  will  make  a  good  meal  for 
him  to  start  on,  for  we  shall  soon  be  on 
a  long  march,  and  we  must  first  break 
our  fast." 

When  he  heard  this,  Jack  gave  up 
his  crab  with  a  good  grace. 

Ned  and  the  two  young  ones  leapt 
round  me  like  kids,  to  beg  of  me  to  let 
them  join  us.  "  But,"  said  I,  "if  you 
all  go,  who  is  to  take  care  of  our  new 
home  ? " 

I  meant  to  take  Turk,  and  with  him 
and  our  gun  I  thought  we  should  make 
a  great  show  of  strength.  I  then  bade 
Fritz  tie  up  Flox  and  get  out  the  guns. 

Fritz  gave  a  deep  blush,  and  did  his 
best  to  get  his  gun  straight.      I  let  him 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,  35 

go  on  for  some  time,  and  then  told  him 
to  take  one  of  mine,  for  I  knew  he  felt 
pain  for  what  he  had  done.  The  dog, 
too,  gave  a  snarl  at  him  ;  but  though 
he  held  out  some  of  the  hard  bread  to 
him,  and  gave  him  a  kind  stroke  on  the 
head,  still  it  was  all  one,  for  Turk 
would  not  trust  him,  while  Flox  would 
lick  his  hand. 

"  Give  him  the  claw  of  my  crab," 
said  Jack. 

"  Fear  not,  Jack,  my  boy,"  said  Ned, 
'£.  for  they  will  be  sure  to  meet  with 
nuts.  Think  of  a  nut  as  big  as  your 
head,  with  a  cup  full  of  milk  in  it !  " 

"  Please  bring  it  to  me  if  you  find 
one,  Fritz,"  said  Frank. 

I  then  told  them  all  that  we  would 
pray  to  God  first  to  bless  our  work, 
and  then  lose  no  time,  but  set  off  at 
once. 

D    2 


36  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

"  Ding  dong  !  Ding  dong  !  Ding 
dong  ! "  said  my  wild  Jack,  as  in  play 
he  took  off  the  sound  of  the  church 
bells  ;  but  I  chid  him  for  it,  and  told 
him  that  though  love  for  the  Lord  was 
a  thing  of  joy,  yet  it  was  not  right  to 
joke  while  we  were  on  our  knees  to 
pray  to  Him. 

Poor  Jack  came  and  knelt  down  close 
to  me,  to  show  me  that  he  saw  what 
I  had  said  to  him  in  the  same  light  as 
I  did.  I  gave  all  the  three  boys  a 
kiss,  and  took  leave  of  my  wife  and 
them. 

I  thought  it  best  to  load  the  gun 
which  I  had  left  with  my  wife,  and  told 
her  to  keep  near  the  boat,  as  it  would 
prove  her  best  friend  in  time  of  need. 
We  all  wept  when  we  took  leave,  for  we 
did  not  know  what  our  fate  might  be  ;  but 
the  noise  of  the  swift  stream  which  we 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,  37 

had  to  cross  would  seem  to  drown  the 
sobs  of  those  we  had  left,  and  we  bent 
our  thoughts  on  the  work  we  had  in 
hand. 

We  each  took  a  large  bag  for  game, 
a  gun,  and  an  axe.  The  right  bank  of 
the  stream  was  so  steep  that  there  was 
but  one  place  through  which  we  could 
cross  it,  and  that  was  near  the  sea. 
But  at  last,  with  some  toil,  we  got  to 
the  left  bank.  We  had  not  gone  more 
than  a  few  yards  through  grass  which 
was  as  tall  as  we  were,  when  we  heard 
a  noise  as  if  some  wild  beast  ran 
through  it  up  to  the  spot  where  we 
stood. 

I  felt  proud  to  see  that  Fritz  was  so 
brave  as  to  stand  and  point  his  gun 
to  the  place  whence  the  sound  came. 
What  was  our  joy  to  find  that  this  fierce 
foe  should  turn  out  to  be  Turk,  whom 


38  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

our  grief,  when  we  took  leave  of  my 
dear  ones,  drove  from  our  thoughts, 
and  we  made  no  doubt  that  they  had 
sent  him  off  to  join  us.  Fritz  did 
not  fire,  and  I  gave  him  all  praise 
for  this,  as  by  so  rash  an  act  we  should 
have  lost  our  best  friend. 

The  sea  was  on  our  left,  and  on  our 
right  ran  a  chain  of  rocks,  from  the  side 
of  which  spread  fine  woods,  and  on  the 
skirts  of  these  we  took  our  wTay.  We 
kept  a  bright  look  out  for  our  ship 
mates.  Fritz  had  a  great  wish  to  fire 
his  gun  to  show  them  where  we  were, 
in  case  they  might  be  near  us ;  but 
I  told  him  I  thought  there  would  be 
a  risk  in  that,  for  if  there  were  wild 
tribes  on  the  isle,  they  might  rush  on 
us,  and  kill  us. 

Fritz — -"  I  can't  see  why  we  should 
search  for  the  crew  at  all.     I  am  sure 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  39 

the  brutes  left  us  to  our  fate  on  the 
wreck !  " 

"  Fritz,"  said  I,  "we  must  do  good  to 
those  that  hate  us,  if  they  stand  in  need 
of  our  help.  You  must  bear  in  mind 
that  we  have  things  from  the  wreck 
which  they  have  as  much  right  to  as 
we,  and  that  there  would  not  have  been 
room  for  us  in  the  boats  ;  add  to  this, 
if  they  were  cast  in  the  sea  by  the  storm, 
which  I  make  no  doubt  they  were,  we 
should  have  been  lost  too." 

Fritz — "  But  we  might  make  such 
good  use  of  our  time  if  we  were  to  go 
to  the  wreck  to  bring  the  live  stock  on 
shore." 

"  Should  we  not  do  more  good,"  said 
I,  "to  save  the  life  of  a  man  than  that 
of  an  ass,  or  a  cow  ?  The  beasts  on 
board  the  ship  have  food  to  last  them 
some  days,  and  while  the  sea  is  so  calm 
there  is  no  fear." 


4-0  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

We  now  came  to  a  small  wood  which 
ran  down  to  the  sea  shore,  in  the  shade 
of  which  we  ate  our  food,  whilst  birds 
stood  on  the  boughs  all  round  us,  whose 
gay  plumes  made  up  for  their  harsh 
song. 

Turk  gave  a  loud  bark  at  what  we 
thought  must  be  an  ape  in  one  of  the 
trees,  and  when  Fritz  ran  to  look  out 
for  it,  he  fell  on  a  large  round  bird's 
nest ;  at  least,  so  he  thought  it  was. 
But  when  I  broke  the  shell,  I  found  it 
was  one  of  the  nuts  which  Ned  had 
set  his  heart  on. 

"  But,"  said  Fritz,"  where  is  the 
sweet  milk  which  he  talks  so  much 
of?" 

I  told  him  the  milk  was  found  in  the 
nuts  when  they  were  half  ripe ;  but  as 
this  nut  was  ripe,  the  juice  had  got 
thick  and  hard. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  41 

It  took  us  a  long  time  to  get  through 
the  wood ;  but  at  last  we  left  this  maze 
of  boughs  and  roots,  and  came  to  a 
broad  plain,  where,  to  my  joy,  I  found 
the  gourd  tree,  which  bears  fruit  on  its 
stem. 

"  The  shells  of  these  gourds/'  said  I, 
"  will  make  plates,  cups,  spoons,  and 
forks." 

Fritz  leapt  with  glee  at  the  thought. 

"  Now  we  can  drink  our  soup  like 
men  of  high  rank,"  said  he  ;  and  he 
soon  set  to  work  to  cut  spoons  from  the 
rind,  in  which  he  put  sand,  so  that  the 
sun  should  not  warp  them,  and  left 
them  to  dry  till  we  came  back. 

"  Can  you  tell  me  why  the  gourd 
tree  bears  fruit  on  the  stem,  and  not  on 
the  boughs  ?"  said  I. 

"  To  be  sure ;  the  boughs  would  not 
bear  the  weight  of  it,"  quoth  he. 


42  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

We  then  set  out  once  more  on  our 
search,  and  I  took  up  my  glass  to  spy 
round  me,  but  saw  no  signs  of  our 
friends.  At  last  we  got  to  a  tongue 
of  land  that  ran  out  in  the  sea,  to  the 
top  of  which  we  came  at  last  with  much 
toil,  and  from  it  we  had  a  fine  view 
of  sea  and  land,  but  still  no  trace  of 
man ;  and  I  felt  sure  that  our  mates 
had  been  lost  in  the  sea. 

We  now  sat  down  once  more  to  rest. 
"  This  sea,"  said  I,  "which  looks  so 
calm,  ought  to  fill  our  minds  with 
thoughts  of  peace  ;  yet  while  I  think 
of  those  who,  but  four  days  since,  were 
swept  off  by  the  rude  lash  of  its  wild 
waves,  and,  as  I  fear,  lie  dead  in  this 
smooth  sea,  its  smile  would  seem  to 
mock  them  ! " 

We  had  now  to  pass  through  ground 
on  which  grew  a   vast  crop  of  canes, 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  43 

which  made  it  hard  work  for  us  to  walk, 
and  I  felt  some  fear  that  there  might 
be  snakes  in  it,  which  I  knew  chose 
out  such  spots,  so  we  made  Turk  go 
in  front  of  us,  that  he  might  start  them, 
and  with  his  loud  bark  put  us  on  our 
guard. 

When  I  cut  the  canes,  I  was  much 
struck  to  see  a  juice  like  glue  come 
out,  and  of  course  I  must  needs  taste 
it.  I  found  it  was  sweet,  and  gave  me 
as  much  strength  as  a  glass  of  wine. 
But  when  Fritz  put  it  to  his  lips,  he 
said, — 

"Oh,  such  luck!  What  will  the 
boys  say  to  this  ?  " 

He  ate  so  much  of  it  that  I  felt 
bound  to  check  him ;  and  when  we 
left  he  took  a  load  of  the  canes  on  his 
back. 

We  now  came  to  a   wood  of  palm 


44  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

trees,  where  a  group  of  apes  took  fright 
at  us,  and  at  the  bark  of  the  dog  they 
fled  to  the  top  of  the  trees,  and  there, 
with  grins  and  shrill  cries,  sat  to  watch 
us.  I  held  back  Fritz's  arm,  for  he 
would  have  shot  at  them. 

"We  have  no  right,"  said  I,  "  to  kill, 
save  for  food  ;  and,  in  fact,  these  apes 
will  be  of  more  use  to  us  with  life  in 
them,  than  if  they  were  dead,  as  I  will 
show  you.  I  then  threw  stones  at 
them,  and  they  in  their  rage  took  nuts 
by  the  score  to  hurl  at  me,  so  we  soon 
had  a  good  store  of  the  nuts,  from 
which  we  drank  the  milk.  We  gave 
Turk  the  rest  of  the  crab,  bound  up 
a  store  of  nuts  by  the  stems,  and  set  off 
on  our  way  home. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  45 


CHAPTER    IV. 

As  we  went,  we  must  needs  suck  the 
canes,  for  they  were  so  good,  till  Fritz 
had  great  fears  that  there  would  be  but 
a  poor  feast  for  those  whom  we  had  left 
at  home.  But  I  told  him  I  thought 
there  was  more  cause  of  fear  from  the 
sun,  which  might  turn  the  juice  sour  ; 
in  that  case  there  would  be  no  need  to 
spare  them. 

"  Well,  my  flask  is  full  of  milk  for 
them,  that's  one  good  thing,"  said 
Fritz. 

"  Nay,"  said  I,  "there  is  more  fear 
still  of  the  nuts,  for  you  may  make  sure 
that  they  will  turn  sour." 

We  now  got  to  the  spot  where  we 
had  left  the  spoons,  and  we  found  them 


46  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson* 

quite  dry,  and  as  hard  as  a  bone.  We 
had  not  gone  far  when  Turk  made  a 
dart  at  a  troop  of  apes,  who  sprang  from 
place  to  place  in  sport.  He  bit  hold 
of  one  of  them  that  held  her  young  one 
in  her  arms,  which  made  her  flight 
more  slow. 

Fritz  ran  with  all  his  might  to  save 
the  old  ape  from  Turk's  jaws,  and  so 
lost  his  hat,  canes,  and  cups  ;  but  he 
found  that  she  was  dead.  The  young 
ape  leapt  on  his  back,  and  put  its  paws 
in  his  curls,  and  no  cries  or  threats 
could  rid  him  of  it. 

I  ran  up  to  him  with  a  laugh,  for 
I  saw  the  ape  was  too  young  to  hurt 
him.  As  it  would  not  stir,  all  Fritz 
could  do  was  to  take  the  cub  home 
as  it  was  ;  for  since  it  had  lost  its  dam, 
the  young  thing  would  fain  look  to  him 
to  screen  it  from  harm.     It  was  but  the 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  4  7 

size  of  a  cat,  though  the  old  ape  was 
as  tall  as  Fritz. 

I  did  not  wish  to  have  one  more 
mouth  to  fill ;  but  Fritz  was  loth  to  part 
with  his  pet,  and  said  that  till  we  had 
the  cow,  it  should  have  his  share  of 
the  milk  from  the  nuts.  In  the  mean 
time  Turk  made  a  meal  of  the  old  ape, 
from  which  Fritz  strove  to  drive  him. 

"  Nay,"  said  I,  "  if  you  drive  the  dogs 
off  such  game  as  they  have  the  luck  to 
find,  they  might  spring  on  one  of  the 
young  boys  some  day  when  they  are 
much  in  want  of  food.  Fritz  thought 
we  were  well  off  to  have  two  such  fine 
dogs,  and  that  the  ass  too  would  be 
of  great  use  to  us. 

When  Turk  came  up  to  join  us  the 
young  ape  took  fright  at  him,  and  crept 
up  the  breast  of  Fritz's  coat. 

He  did  not  care  to  have  him  quite 


48  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

so  near,  and  the  thought  struck  him 
that  he  would  tie  the  cub  with  a  cord 
to  Turk's  back,  and  lead  the  dog. 
Turk  did  not  at  all  like  this  at  first ; 
but  a  threat  and  a  coax  made  him  yield 
in  the  end. 

We  went  on  at  a  slow  pace  for  some 
time,  and  I  could  but  think  of  the  state 
of  joy  in  which  our  young  ones  would 
be  thrown  when  they  saw  us  come 
home  with  the  ape  like  two  Beast  Show 
men. 

We  had  but  just  got  to  the  banks 
of  the  stream  which  ran  near  our  tent, 
when  we  heard  Flox  give  a  loud  bark, 
as  much  as  to  say,  "  Here  they  are  !" 
Then  Turk  gave  a  bark,  to  tell  them, 
"  Here  we  come!"  But  at  these 
sounds  the  young  ape  took  fright,  and 
leapt  from  Turk's  neck  to  Fritz's  head, 
and  come  down  he  would  not. 


The  Swis^Family  Robinson.  49 

Turk  was  but  too  glad  to  break  loose, 
that  he  might  run  to  meet  Flox  and 
the  boys,  who  were  soon  at  our  side, 
and  in  great  glee  to  see  us  back  once 
more.  Each  boy  had  a  kiss,  and  then 
came  shouts  of  praise  at  the  sight  of  the 
new  pet. 

"  An  ape  !  a  real  live  ape  !  Oh  what 
a  love!  How  did  you  catch  him?" 
burst  from  the  lips  of  Ned  and  Jack; 
but  Frank,  who  stood  in  some  fear  of 
him,  said,  "  I  call  him  a  fright." 

Jack. — "I  am  sure  his  looks  are  twice 
as  good  as  yours.  See  how  he  laughs. 
How  I  should  like  to  see  him  eat !" 

Ned. — "  Now,  if  we  had  but  some 
of  the  nuts  with  milk  in  them  !  Have 
you  found  some  ? " 

'  But  I  fear  you  have  met  with  some 
risks,"  said  my  wife. 

It  was  in  vain  to  try  to  tell  them  all 


50  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

at  once  what  we  had  done.  At  length, 
when  they  let  us  have  some  peace,  I 
told  them  where  we  had  been,  and  that 
we  had  brought  them  all  sorts  of  good 
things ;  but  that  I  had  not  seen  a  trace 
of  our  friends  from  the  ship. 

"  God's  will  be  done  !"  said  my  wife. 
"Let  us  thank  Him  that  He  has 
brought  you  safe  back  to  us.  This  day 
has  been  like  a  whole  week  to  me ! 
But  put  down  your  load,  and  let  us 
hear  you  talk  of  all  that  you  have  seen 
and  done.  We,  too,  have  found  work 
to  do,  though  we  have  not  gone  through 
all  the  toil  that  you  must  have  had. 
Boys,  see  if  you  can  ease  them  of 
their  load." 

Jack  took  my  gun,  Frank  the  gourds, 
and  my  wife  the  game  bags.  Fritz 
soon  gave  out  the  canes,  and  put  the 
ape  on  Turk's  back,  to  the  great  glee  of 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,  5 1 

the  rest  of  the  boys.  He  gave  his  gun 
to  Ned,  who  said  the  gourds  were  of 
too  ^reat  a  weight  for  him  to  take,  so 
my  dear  wife  lent  a  hand,  and  we  went 
on  our  way  to  the  tent. 

Fritz.- — "It  strikes  me  that  if  Ned 
knew  that  the  gourds  held  his  dear  nuts 
with  milk  in  them,  he  would  not  give 
them  up  so  soon." 

Ned. — "  Give  them  to  me ;  I  will 
take  them,  and  the  gun  too." 

My  wife  had  a  good  meal  for  us  at 
the  fire.  She  had  put  some  sticks  in 
the  shape  of  a  fork  on  the  hearth, 
which  made  a  rest  for  a  thin  spit,  on 
which  all  sorts  of  fish  were  put  to  roast, 
and  a  goose  too.  Frank  was  set  to 
turn  the  spit,  and  the  pot  was  on  the 
fire,  from  which  came  forth  the  fumes 
of  some  good  soup. 

At  the  back  of  the  hearth  stood  one 

E    2 


52  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

of  the  casks,  which  held  a  Dutch  cheese 
in  a  case  of  lead.  All  this  was  sweet 
to  our  sight  and  smell,  and  we  felt  sure 
would  soon  be  so  to  our  taste  ;  and  for 
the  time  we  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that 
we  were  on  a  lone  shore  where,  till 
now,  man's  foot  had  not  been  set. 

I  could  not  think  my  boys  or  my 
wife  had  lost  much  time  since  we  left 
them  ;  but  I  told  them  that  they  must 
not  kill  our  geese  quite  so  fast,  as  we 
ought  to  keep  them  for  stock. 

"  Have  no  fear,"  said  my  wife,  "this 
is  not  one  of  our  own,  it  is  a  wild  goose 
which  was  brought  home  by  Ned  ; 
Jack  and  Frank  caught  the  fish  at  the 
rocks,  while  I  brought  the  cask  up  to 
the  tent  and  broke  the  lid  of  it,  to 
get  to  this  good  cheese." 

Fritz. — "  Let's  feed  our  young  ape, 
who  has  lost  his  dam's  milk." 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  53 

Jack. — "  I  have  been  to  try  him,  and 
(   he  will  not  eat." 

I  told  the  boys  that  he  must  be  fed 
with  the  milk  from  the  nuts  till  he 
could  eat.  Jack  said  he  should  have 
all  his  share ;  but  Ned  and  Frank,  on 
their  part,  had  a  wish  to  taste  the 
milk. 

Jack. — "  Nay  ;  but  the  poor  cub 
must  live  !  " 

"  And  so  must  we  all,"  said  my  wife ; 
"  so  now  come  and  sup,  and  we  will 
have  the  nuts  by  and  by." 

We  sat  down  on  the  ground,  and 
the  meal  was  spread.  My  boys  cut 
the  nuts  in  two  with  our  saw,  and  made 
spoons  of  the  shells.  Jack  took  good 
care  that  the  poor  ape  should  have  his 
share  ;  and  the  way  the  boys  fed  him 
was  to  put  the  end  of  a  cloth  in  the 
milk,  and  then  let  the  cub  suck  it. 


54  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

As  night  had  now  come  on  we  all 
went  to  rest.  The  young  ape  was  laid 
on  some  moss  to  keep  him  warm,  with 
Fritz  and  Jack  by  his  side ;  the  fowls 
went  to  roost  on  the  tent,  and  we  were 
all  soon  in  a  deep  sleep. 

But  we  had  not  slept  long,  when  we 
heard  a  great  noise,  which  the  dogs  and 
the  fowls  had  set  up,  and  we  thought, 
of  course,  that  some  foe  was  near.  My 
wife,  Fritz,  and  I,  each  took  a  gun 
and  went  out,  when  by  the  light  of  the 
moon  we  saw  a  fierce  fight,  for  our 
brave  dogs  had  round  them  a  score 
of  wolves. 

Fritz  and  I  let  off  our  guns,  at  which 
two  fell  dead,  and  the  rest  fled,  but 
Turk  and  Flox  soon  put  them  to  death, 
and  then,  like  true  dogs,  ate  them.  We 
were  glad  to  find  it  was  no  worse  a  foe, 
and  then  went  back  to  our  beds,   and 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  55 

slept  till  the  cock  woke  us  with  his  loud 
crow,  and  then  my  wife  and  I  set  our 
thoughts  to  work  to  make  plans  for  the 
day. 


CHAPTER    V. 

"Well,  my  dear,"  said  I,  "I  see 
some  toil  lies  in  our  path  this  day; 
Fritz  and  I  must  go  on  our  raft  to  the 
wreck,  for  if  we  are  to  save  the  live 
stock,  we  must  go  at  once ;  and  there 
are  bales  and  bales  of  goods  on  board 
which  may  be  of  much  use  to  us.  Yet 
I  know  not  what  to  do  first,  for  we  must 
have  some  place  here  to  stow  them  in," 

"  All  may  be  done,"  said  my  wife, 
"  in  due  time  ;  and  though  I  shall  be 
in  a  sad  state  of  fear  till  I  see  you  both 


56  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

back,  still  I  yield  to  the  good  it  will 
be  to  us  all,  so  let  it  be  done  this 
day." 

I  then  went  to  rouse  my  boys.  Fritz 
was  the  first  to  jump  up,  and  he  ran 
for  a  dead  wolf,  which  he  found  had  got 
quite  stiff.  He  put  it  on  its  legs  at  the 
door  of  the  tent,  to  make  the  rest  of 
the  boys  start ;  but  as  soon  as  the  dogs 
saw  it,  they  sprang  on  it,  and  would 
have  torn  it  to  shreds,  had  not  Fritz 
gone  to  work  the  right  way  this  time, 
which  was  to  coax  them  off  with  food. 
But  this  loud  bark  woke  the  boys,  who 
made  a  rush  at  the  door  of  the  tent 
to  see  the  cause  of  it  all. 

Jack  was  the  first  to  come  out,  with 
the  ape  on  his  arm  ;  but  as  soon  as  the 
young  thing  saw  the  wolf  which  lay 
dead  at  the  door,  he  sprang  back  to  his 
bed  and  hid  in  the  moss,   till  no  part 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson*  5  7 

of  him  but  the  tip  of  his  snout  could 
be  seen.  Jack  took  the  wolf  for  a  dead 
dog ;  and  Ned,  in  a  tone  of  some  pomp, 
said,  "  This  is  a  gold  fox." 

We  then  sat  down  to  break  our  fast, 
when  Ned  gave  a  sly  look  at  a  cask 
which  stood  by. 

"  Ah,"  said  he,  "  if  we  had  but  some 
lard  to  spread  on  this  hard  bread,  how 
good  it  would  be.  Could  we  not  get 
at  this  cask  ?  " 

He  then  brought  out  some  lard  from 
a  crack  in  the  side  of  it. 

"  Your  taste  for  good  things,  Ned, 
has  brought  us  a  great  boon.  Come, 
my  boys,  who  wants  bread  and  lard  ?" 

As  our  dogs  lay  at  our  feet,  I  saw 
that  they  had  got  deep  wounds  in  the 
neck ;  so  my  wife  put  some  of  the 
lard  on  them,  which  gave  the  poor 
brutes  much  ease.      Ned  thought  they 


58  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

ought  to  have  spikes  round  their  necks 
to  keep  off  their  foes. 

"  I  will  make  them  some,"  said 
Jack. 

While  Fritz  got  out  the  boat,  I  set 
up  a  high  post,  on  the  top  of  which 
I  put  a  piece  of  sail  cloth  for  a  flag,  and 
I  told  my  wife  and  boys  that  they  must 
let  it  float  in  the  air  as  long  as  all  went 
on  well  ;  but  if  they  stood  in  need  of 
us  they  were  to  let  down  the  flag  and 
fire  a  gun  three  times,  when  we  should 
come  back  with  all  speed.  I  told  my 
wife  that  we  might  have  to  stay  on 
board  all  night. 

"Well,"  said  she,  "if  I  thought  you 
would  be  on  the  raft,  I  should  rest  at 
ease,  but  not  if  you  slept  on  the  wreck." 

Our  guns  were  all  we  took,  as  we 
thought  we  should  find  food  on  board. 
But  I  must  add  that  Fritz  would  take 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,  59 

the  ape,  that  he  might  give  it  some 
milk  from  the  cow,  as  he  thought  it  did 
not  seem  "  quite  up  to  the  mark."  So 
we  took  our  leave,  and  went  off  in  the 
boat. 

When  we  had  got  mid  way  down  the 
bay,  a  strong  stream  drove  us  on  for 
three  parts  of  the  way ;  at  last  we  came 
to  the  creek  of  the  rock  from  which 
I  had  made  my  first  start.  Then  we 
went  on  board  the  ship. 

Fritz's  first  care  was  to  feed  the  live 
things,  each  of  which  we  heard  greet 
us  in  its  own  way.  The  young  ape  was 
put  to  the  goat  to  suck,  and  this  he 
did  with  so  great  a  zest  that  it  made 
us  hold  our  sides  to  laugh  at  so  droll 
a  sight. 

Now  that  we  had  made  our  way  to 
the  wreck,  the  next  thing  we  had  to 
think  of  was  how  we  should  get  back. 


60  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

We  knew  that  the  wind  which  blew 
in  our  teeth  as  we  came,  would  serve  us 
now  if  we  had  a  sail  ;  so  a  mast  and  sail 
were  of  course  the  first  things  for  us  to 
look  out  for.  We  found  a  strong  pole 
for  a  mast,  and  to  fix  the  sail  to  a  yard 
did  not  take  us  long.  We  then  put 
a  plank  on  the  top  of  the  fourth  tub  on 
our  raft,  and  so  made  a  deck.  Fritz 
ran  up  a  red  flag  to  the  top  of  the  mast 
as  a  sign  to  those  whom  we  had  left  on 
shore,  to  let  them  know  that  we  should 
not  go  back  that  night. 

The  next  day  we  found  all  sorts  of 
things  that  we  could  turn  to  some  use 
on  shore,  such  as  shot,  tools,  and  cloth  ; 
and  we  took  care  this  time  to  bear  in 
mind  spoons,  knives,  forks,  plates,  pots, 
pans,  and  a  jack  to  roast  with. 

We  found  a  chest  full  of  good  things 
to  eat,  such  as  the  new  kind   of  soup, 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  61 

hams,  some  bags  of  maize,  wheat,  seeds, 
and  herbs.  We  took  all  the  tools  we 
could  find  room  for,  some  guns,  swords, 
and  a  large  roll  of  cloth.  Our  tubs 
were  full  to  the  brim,  and  we  left  but 
just  room  to  stand.  We  now  sent  up 
our  flag  to  say  that  all  was  right,  and 
went  to  rest  for  the  night. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

At  break  of  day  I  went  on  deck  to 
look  through  a  good  glass  which  I  had 
found  in  the  ship,  and  I  could  see  my 
wife  with  her  face  my  way,  as  well  as 
the  flag,  which  flew  in  the  breeze.  So 
as  I  knew  that  all  went  well  with  her, 
I  sat  down  to  eat  a  full  meal. 

As  to  the  live  stock,  it  was  plain  that 


62  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

if  we  made  a  raft  for  them,  the  beasts 
would  not  rest  on  it ;  the  great  fat  sow 
might  swim  to  land,  but  as  to  the  rest  we 
did  not  see  our  way  with  them.  At  last 
Fritz  thought  of  a  plan  by  which  they 
might  reach  the  shore,  but  which  it 
took  us  two  hours  to  put  in  force,  and 
this  was  the  way  of  it :  the  cow  and  the 
ass  had  a  cask  on  each  side  of  them, 
well  bound  with  strips  of  sail  cloth,  and 
we  put  a  block  of  wood  on  the  head 
of  each  to  hold  him  by.  We  sent  the 
ass  off  by  a  hard  push,  and  he  swam 
well  when  he  had  once  made  a  plunge 
or  two.  The  cow,  sheep,  and  goats, 
all  took  to  the  sea  as  if  they  did  not 
mind  it,  but  the  sow  broke  loose  from 
us,  and  was  the  first  to  reach  the  land. 

We  then  got  in  our  boat,  bound  all 
the  blocks  of  wood  (which  held  the  beasts) 
to  its  stern,  and  drew  with  us  our  train. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  63 

We  thought  much  of  our  sail,  for  with 
such  a  load  as  we  had,  we  could  not 
have  got  on  with  our  oars. 

Once  more  I  took  up  the  glass  to 
look  for  my  wife  and  boys,  when  a 
loud  cry  from  Fritz  rang  in  my  ears : 

"  We  are  lost !  We  are  lost !  See 
that  huge  fish  !  " 

But  the  bold  boy  took  hold  of  his 
gun,  and  sent  two  balls  at  its  head,  and 
as  it  swam  it  left  a  track  of  blood. 

We  were  now  not  far  from  the  shore, 
so  we  let  down  the  sail  and  took  our 
oars,  and  when  the  beasts  felt  the 
ground  we  cut  off  the  wood  and  each 
went  on  shore  just  in  the  way  he 
thought  most  fit. 

So  we  came  to  land.  But  where 
were  all  those  whom  we  had  left  ?  We 
could  see  no  trace  of  them  ! 

But  we  had   not   long  to  wait ;  for 


64  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

they  soon  came  up  to  greet  us  ;  and 
when  our  first  burst  of  joy  had  gone  off, 
we  sat  down  to  tell  our  tale  from  first 
to  last.  My  wife's  joy  was  great  to  see 
the  ass,  cow,  sheep,  sow,  and  goats,  and 
more  than  all,  to  hear  how  well  Fritz's 
plan  to  get  them  to  land  had  been 
brought  to  bear. 

We  then  set  to  work  to  bring  on 
shore  all  our  stores.  I  saw  that  Jack 
wore  a  belt  of  skin,  in  which  were  put 
firearms.  Said  I,  "  Where  could  you 
have  found  such  a  thing  ? " 

u  I  made  it,"  said  he,  "  and  this  is 
not  all ;  look  at  the  dogs  ! " 

The  dogs  had  each  a  thong  round 
his  neck,  thick  with  spikes. 

"It  was  I  that  thought  of  it,"  said 
Jack,  "but  I  had  help  when  I  came  to 
sew  the  nails  on." 

I   told    him    I   should  like   to  know 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  65 

where  .he  got  the  thong,  the  nails,  and 
the  thread  from  ? 

Jack  then  said,  "  The  thong  was 
made  out  of  the  skin  of  Fritz's  wolf, 
and    the    rest    came    from    the    large 

baS-" 

"  There  is   still  more   in   it ;  do  but 

say  what  you  want ! "  quoth  my  wife. 

I  sent  Fritz  to  bring  the  ham  from 
the  raft,  and,  to  the  joy  of  all,  it  was 
set  out  on  the  top  of  the  lard  cask.  My 
wife  brought  out  twelve  dove's  eggs, 
which  were  like  white  balls  ;  and  while 
she  spread  our  meal,  Fritz  and  I  took 
our  load  out  of  the  boat,  and  made  use 
of  the  ass  to  help  us. 

We  sat  down  to  cheese,  ham,  and 
eggs,  with  the  ass,  cow,  sheep,  goats, 
dogs,  sow,  and  fowls  all  round  us.  The 
geese  and  ducks  kept  to  the  marsh, 
where  they  ate  the  small  crabs.      I  sent 


66  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

Fritz  for  some  wine  from  the  stores  ; 
and  then  my  wife  gave  us  a  sketch  of 
all  that  she  and  the  two  young  ones  had 
done  while  we  were  on  the  wreck. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

"  As  to  the  way  in  which  I  spent  the 
first  day,"  said  she,  "  I  will  spare  your 
kind  heart,  for  I  wTas  in  such  great  fear 
that  I  kept  my  eye  the  whole  time  on 
the  flags  and  signs  from  the  ship,  which 
with  the  aid  of  the  glass  I  could  see 
well.  But  to  day,  as  I  was  sure  that 
all  went  well  with  you,  I  set  out  with 
the  two  dear  boys  in  search  of  some 
spot  to  pitch  our  tent  in,  that  had  more 
to  boast  of  than  this  poor  bare  place. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  67 

We  went  forth  with  game  bags,  and 
knives  at  our  sides  ;  the  boys  took  our 
food,  and  I  shut  up  the  tent  door  with 
the  hooks.  Turk  and  Flox  went  with 
us  as  our  guides  ;  but  when  we  got  to 
the  stream  we  were  in  a  great  strait,  for 
we  knew  not  how  to  cross  it.  So  we 
kept  for  some  time  to  the  left  bank, 
when  by  hook  or  by  crook  the  boys  got 
me  through  it. 

"We  had  now  come  to  what  we 
thought  was  a  wood,  which  was  in  good 
truth  but  a  group  of  twelve  trees,  all 
of  a  great  height,  and  which  would  seem 
as  if  the  air  was  their  home  more  than 
the  earth  ;  and  the  trunks  sprang  from 
roots,  each  of  which  made  an  arch  to 
hold  up  the  boughs.  Jack  put  a  piece 
of  twine  round  the  trunk  of  one  of  these, 
to  see  what  size  it  was,  and  found  it  to 
be  two  score  feet  round  the  stem ;  and 

F    2 


68  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

as  far  as  we  could  judge,  it  was  three 
score  feet  high.  A  short  smooth  turf 
grew  at  the  foot,  and  near  it  ran  a  clear 
brook  with  a  bank  of  bright  green  moss 
on  each  side  of  it.  On  the  whole,  it 
was  as  sweet  a  spot  as  the  eye  could 
rest  on.  Here  we  sat  down  to  eat  our 
meal.  The  two  dogs,  which  soon  came 
to  join  us,  did  not  seem  to  crave  for  food, 
as  I  thought  they  would,  but  lay  down 
to  sleep  at  our  feet. 

"As  for  me,  so  safe  and  so  full  of 
peace  did  this  sweet  spot  seem,  that 
I  could  but  think  that  if  we  were  to 
build  a  home  on  the  top  of  these  high 
trees,  I  could  find  it  in  my  heart  to 
spend  the  rest  of  my  life  here. 

"  When  we  set  out  to  go  home  we 
took  the  road  by  the  sea  shore,  in  hopes 
that  the  waves  would  have  cast  up  things 
from  the  wreck  which  might  be  of  use 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,  69 

to  us.  We  found  chests  and  casks 
which  we  had  not  the  strength  to  move 
far,  though  we  took  them  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  tide.  In  the  mean  time 
the  dogs  caught  small  crabs  which  they 
ate  as  fast  as  they  could  catch  them.  I 
was  glad  to  see  this,  as  I  knew  the  poor 
things  could  not  get  their  own  food. 

"  As  we  sat  down  a  while  to  rest  from 
this  hard  work,  I  saw  Flox  scratch  a 
hole  in  the  sand  and  eat  some  small 
things  out  of  it  with  a  great  zest.  Ned 
stood  to  watch  him,  and  then  said  : 

' '  They  are  eggs  !  round  white  eggs  ! 
and  such  good  ones  ! ' 

"  We  took  twelve  of  them,  and  left 
Flox  the  rest  for  her  pains. 

'  While  we  put  our  spoil  in  the  game 
bags,  we  saw  in  front  of  us  a  sail.  Ned 
was  quite  sure  it  was  our  raft,  but 
Frank  was  much  in  dread  lest  it  should 


jo  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

be  a  boat  full  of  wild  men  who  would 
eat  us  up.  Yet  we  soon  drove  off  these 
fears,  and  leapt  from  stone  to  stone,  till 
we  got  to  the  place  where  you  were  to 
land." 

"  Then,"  said  I,  "  I  make  out  from 
what  you  tell  me,  that  you  have  found 
a  high  tree  where  you  would  have  us 
perch  like  fowls.  But  how  are  we  to 
get  up  ? " 

"  Oh,"  said  my  wife,  "  can  you  not 
call  to  mind  the  large  lime  tree  near  our 
town  in  which  a  ball  room  had  been 
made  ?  We  went  up  to  that  by  stairs ; 
so  why  could  you  not  make  stairs  in 
those  huge  stems  ?  There  we  should 
live  in  peace,  and  have  no  fear  of  wolves 
or  foes  that  prowl  by  night." 

I  said  I  would  think  of  what  could 
be  done. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  71 

Q 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

The  next  day  we  set  our  wits  to 
work  to  make  a  plan.  In  the  end  we 
thought  that  we  would  build  a  home  on 
the  spot  my  wife  spoke  of  in  terms  of 
such  high  praise. 

"  But  the  store  house  for  our  goods," 
said  I,  "  must  be  in  the  rock,  as  well 
as  a  place  to  fly  to  in  time  of  need, 
which  shall  be  known  to  none  but 
us. 

I  told  my  wife  that  the  first  thing  to 
be  done  was  to  build  a  bridge,  that  we 
might  bring  all  our  goods  to  the  house 
and  stores. 

"  A  bridge  !  "  said  my  wife.  "  Why 
can't  we  make  use  of  a  ford  as  we  have 
done  ?  The  cow  and  the  ass  could 
take  our  stores." 


72  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

I  told  her  that  a  bridge  we  must 
have,  and  that  the  boys  and  I  would 
make  it,  while  I  set  her  to  work  to 
stitch  up  some  strong  bags  to  put  shot 
in. 

As  our  minds  were  now  made  up 
for  this  change  of  home,  I  woke  up  the 
boys  and  told  them  of  our  plans.  We 
all  gave  a  loud  laugh  when  we  saw  the 
young  ape  suck  the  goat,  who  took  to 
it  as  if  she  had  been  its  dam.  And  as 
to  my  wife  to  see  her  milk  the  cow,  one 
might  vow  that  she  had  been  born  a 
milk  maid.  She  gave  us  some  of  the 
warm  milk,  and  put  the  rest  in  flasks 
for  us  to  take  in  the  boat,  and  I  then 
had  to  go  in  search  of  planks  of  wood 
to  build  the  bridge  with. 

I  took  both  Fritz  and  Ned  with  me 
this  time,  as  I  saw  we  should  have  a 
good  load  to  bring  on  shore. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  73 

When  we  came  up  to  a  small  isle  at 
the  mouth  of  the  bay,  we  saw  there  a 
vast  flock  of  gulls  and  sea  birds  of  that 
kind,  which,  with  their  harsh  cry,  fed 
on  a  huge  fish.  This  fish  was  the  shark 
which  Fritz  had  shot  through  the  head, 
and  he  found  on  it  the  marks  of  his 
two  balls. 

Ned  struck  some  of  the  birds  right 
and  left,  and  put  the  rest  to  flight.  We 
cut  off  the  skin  of  the  shark,  which  I 
thought  might  be  of  use,  and  put  it  in 
the  boat. 

We  found  loads  of  planks  there, 
which  had  been  thrown  up  by  the  high 
tide,  and  as  these  were  all  that  I  could 
wish  for  to  build  our  bridge  with,  I  did 
not  go  to  the  wreck.  We  chose  out 
those  which  we  thought  would  best  suit 
us,  and  by  the  aid  of  the  jack  screw 
and  some  strong  poles  we  bound  them 


74  Tke  Swiss  Family  Robinson, 

to  the  stern  of  the  boat,  and  then  put 
off.  As  we  went  on,  Fritz  set  to  work  to 
dry  the  shark's  skin  to  make  files  with, 
and  Ned  in  the  mean  while  must  needs 
muse  on  the  fact  that  the  shark's  mouth 
is  so  made  that  to  seize  his  prey  he 
must  turn  on  his  back,  and  this  gives 
his  prey  a  chance  to  save  their  lives  ; 
else,  with  such  a  maw,  he  would  lay 
waste  the  sea.  At  last  we  came  to 
land,  and  a  loud  call  soon  brought  the 
boys  to  our  side. 

They  had  been  hard  at  work  at  the 
banks  of  the  stream.  Frank  had 
round  his  neck  a  net  full  of  fine  craw 
fish,  and  Jack  had  the  same.  "  Frank 
was  the  first  to  find  these  fish,"  said 
Jack,  "  when  he  and  I  went  in  search 
of  the  best  place  to  build  the  bridge." 

"  Thank  you,"  said  I  ;  "  then  may  be 
you  will  plan  the  works." 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  75 

"  Yes,  yes,"  said  Jack,  "  but  just 
hark  at  what  we  saw.  When  we  got 
to  the  stream,  Frank  gave  a  loud  call 
to  me,  and  when  I  came  up  to  him  I 
saw  Fritz's  wolf  with  a  coat  of  crabs 
on  him !  I  ran  to  fetch  a  net  that  we 
found  on  the  shore,  and  we  caught  all 
these  as  soon  as  we  had  cast  it,  and 
could  have  got  more  if  you  had  not 
just  then  come  up." 

I  told  Jack  to  keep  as  much  as  we 
should  want  to  eat,  and  put  the  rest 
back  in  the  stream,  and  I  was  glad  to 
find  that  we  had  such  good  food  in  our 
reach.  We  now  brought  our  planks 
on  shore.  I  thought  well  of  Frank's 
site  for  the  bridge  ;  but  it  was  a  long 
way  from  our  store  of  planks.  To  get 
these  to  the  left  side  of  the  stream,  we 
bound  a  rope  to  the  horns  of  the  cow 
(as  its  chief  strength  lies  in  the  head), 


76  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

and  one  end  we  made  fast  to  the 
planks  ;  and  by  the  aid  of  the  ass  we 
took  all  the  wood  we  had  need  of  to 
the  spot  which  the  dear  boys  chose  for 
the  site  of  our  bridge. 

To  find  out  the  breadth  of  the 
stream  Ned  hit  off  a  good  plan,  which 
was  to  tie  a  stone  to  a  ball  of  twine  and 
fling  it  to  the  left  bank,  and  then  draw 
it  back,  and  in  this  way  we  could  judge 
of  the  width  of  the  stream  by  the  length 
of  the  string.  So  we  brought  from  the 
coast  those  planks  which  were  of  the 
right  size.  We  found  the  stream  was 
one  score  feet  wide  ;  but  to  give 
strength  I  made  the  planks  rest  three 
feet  on  each  bank. 

But  now  we  were  in  a  great  strait ; 
for  we  knew  not  how  we  were  to  hoist 
the  planks  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
stream,  when  the  cow  and  the  ass  had 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  jy 

brought  them  there.  I  said  this 
must  be  thought  of  while  we  ate  our 
meal.  "  Craw  fish  and  Rice  Milk" 
was  the  bill  of  fare.  But  we  were  first 
shown  the  two  bags  for  the  ass,  which 
my  wife  had  made  of  the  wolf's  hide 
with  twine  and  a  nail  to  pierce  the  holes 
with.  As  we  ate  our  meal,  to  talk  of 
our  bridge  was  the  one  thing  to  do,  and 
we  gave  it  the  name  of  the  Swiss 
Bridge. 

We  then  went  to  work,  and  sent  the 
ass  and  cow,  with  Ned  and  Jack  on 
their  backs,  to  swim  to  the  left  bank 
with  the  long  planks,  and  so  the  thing 
was  done.  I  laid  down  boards  on  the 
top  of  these  strong  planks  cross  ways ; 
but  I  would  not  fix  them,  as  I  thought 
that  if  we  should  meet  with  a  foe  we 
might  want  to  take  down  the  bridge. 
When  it  was  made,  my  wife  and  I  went 


78  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

up  and  down  it  with  as  much  glee  as 
the  boys.  Worn  out  with  the  toil  of 
the  day,  we  then  made  our  way  home 
and  went  to  rest. 


CHAPTER     IX. 

The  next  day,  with  all  my  dear  ones 
round  me,  I  went  to  pray ;  and  we  then 
took  leave  of  our  first  home  on  the  isle, 
for  we  had  now  to  set  out  for  our  new 
house  in  the  trees.  I  bade  my  boys 
keep  near  me  in  a  group,  and  on  we 
went. 

We  brought  out  the  ass,  the  cow, 
the  sheep,  and  the  goats.  The  bags 
were  put  on  the  backs  of  the  first  two 
of   these,   and   were   full    of    things  of 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,  79 

weight,    such    as    pots,    pans,    cheese, 
bread,  and  flour. 

All  was  in  trim  for  the  march,  when 
my  wife  came  in  haste  to  beg  of  me  to 
make  room  for  her  large  bag  which 
held  so  much  ;  nor  would  she  leave  the 
fowls,  lest  they  should  fall  a  prey  to  the 
wolves  ;  but  her  chief  thought  was  to 
have  a  seat  found  for  Frank,  as  he 
could  not  walk  so  far.  I  could  but 
smile  at  her  wants,  when  room  was  so 
scarce  ;  but  I  gave  in,  and  made  a  good 
place  for  Frank  on  the  back  of  the  ass, 
where  he  sat  with  a  pack  on  each  side* 
of  him. 

The  boys  came  back,  and  said  they 
could  not  catch  the  fowls ;  but  my  wife 
said  she  would  soon  bring  them. 
'Well,  if  you  do,"  quoth  our  pert 
Jack,  "  I  will  let  you  roast  me  in  the 
place   of    the    first     chick    you    take." 


80  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

"  Then  my  poor  Jack,"  said  she,  *  you 
will  soon  be  on  the  spit !  Look  here  !" 
As  she  said  this  she  threw  down  some 
grain  for  them  near  the  tent,  and  then 
some  more  in  the  tent,  which  the  fowls 
came  to  eat ;  she  then  went  in,  shut  the 
door,  and  caught  them  all.  To  tie  the 
wings  of  each  to  its  feet  was  soon  done, 
and  they  were  put  in  nets,  which  were 
slung  on  the  cow  and  ass. 

All  that  we  could  not  take  with  us 
we  shut  up  in  the  tent,  the  door  of 
which  we  made  fast,  and  put  chests 
and  casks  in  front  of  it,  and  took  our 
way  to  our  new  home. 

My  wife  and  Fritz  went  first,  then 
came  the  cow  and  ass  with  their  loads, 
and  Jack  drove  the  goats.  The  young 
ape  sat  on  the  back  of  his  nurse,  where 
his  grins  and  tricks  did  not  fail  to  cheer 
our  hearts  on  the  way,  and  he  was  quite 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  81 

a  pet  with  us  all.  Next  came  Ned 
with  the  sheep  ;  then  I,  like  the  Jews  of 
old,  with  my  flocks  and  herds  in  front 
of  me,  came  last  The  two  dogs  ran 
first  to  the  front,  then  to  the  rear,  as  if 
they  thought  we  were  all  in  their 
charge. 


CHAPTER    X.    . 

Our  march  was  slow.  We  had  ere 
long  to  cross  the  new  bridge,  and  here 
we  had  one  more  than  we  had  set  out 
with  ;  for  the  sow — which  was  so  wild 
when  it  was  her  turn  to  be  caught  that 
we  had  to  leave  her — now  came  to  join 
us,  with  grunts  which  would  seem  to 
say,  "  This  change  is  not  at  all  to  my 
mind." 

G 


82  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson, 

As  soon  as  we  had  got  to  the  left 
side  of  the  stream  the  beasts  set  off  to 
feed  on  the  rich  grass,  and  but  for  our 
dogs,  we  should  not  have  known  how 
to  catch  them ;  so  I  told  our  "  guard  " 
we  would  take  the  road  near  the  coast, 
where  there  was  no  grass  to  tempt 
them.  We  had  not  left  the  long  grass 
half  an  hour,  when  our  dogs  made  a 
rush  back  to  it  with  loud  barks  and 
howls,  as  if  they  were  in  fight  with 
some  foe. 

Fritz  and  Jack  ran  off  to  the  spot 
with  their  guns  in  their  hands,  when 
Jack,  who  leapt  in  the  high  grass  up 
to  the  dogs,  said,  with  a  clap  of  the 
hands : 

"  Be  quick  :  here's  a  great  beast  like 
a  Hedge  Hog,  with  quills  as  long  as 
my  arm ! " 

When  I  got  up  to  it,  it  made  a  fierce 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  83 

noise,  and  was  so  bold  as  to  set  up  its 
quills  at  us,  as  it  had  done  at  the  dogs, 
who  gave  sad  howls  at  the  pain  they 
were  put  to.  At  last,  to  put  an  end 
to  the  fight,  Jack  sent  a  shot  in  the 
head  of  the  poor  beast,  at  which  it 
fell  dead. 

"  Jack  is  proud  of  his  feat,"  said 
Fritz,  "  but  he  is  too  young  to  make 
use  of  a  gun,  for  he  might  have  shot 
one  of  the  dogs,  and  what  would  be 
still  worse,  one  of  us." 

But  I  said  that  all  did  well  to  act  for 
the  good  of  the  rest. 

My  wife  was  then  sent  for,  to  see 
this  strange  beast.  Her  first  thought 
was  to  dress  the  wounds  of  the  poor 
dogs  made  by  the  quills.  As  Jack  had 
a  great  wish  to  take  so  strange  a  beast 
with  us,  I  put  it  in  some  soft  grass,  so 
that  the  quills  might  not  break. 

G  2 


84  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

At  last  we  got  to  the  end  of  the 
march,  and  I  must  say  I  was  much 
struck  with  the  trees  ;  for  they  were 
of  a  bulk  which  I  could  not  have 
thought  of.  And  we  gave  all  thanks 
to  my  dear  wife  who  had  sought  out  so 
nice  a  home  for  us. 

We  took  the  load  from  the  backs  of 
the  cow  and  ass,  and  bound  fast  their 
fore  legs,  that  they  might  not  stray ;  but 
the  sow  we  let  go  in  the  way  of  her 
own  will,  and  the  fowls  and  doves  were 
let  loose.  We  then  all  sat  down  on 
the  grass  to  think  of  the  best  site  for  our 
new  home. 

It  was  my  wish  to  mount  the  tree 
that  night.  All  at  once  we  heard  the 
sound  of  a  gun  ;  but  Fritz's  voice  set 
us  at  our  ease.  He  had  crept  out  and 
shot  a  fine  Pole  Cat,  which  he  held  up 
to  our  view  with  great  pride. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  85 

"  Well  done  !  "  said  I  ;  "  you  ought  to 
have  the  thanks  of  the  fowls  and  doves, 
for  the  cat  would  soon  have  made  a 
prey  of  them." 

"  Pray  shoot  all  the  rest,  Fritz,  else 
we  shall  not  have  a  chick  left  for  the 
spit,"  said  Ned. 

I  told  Fritz  to  skin  it  at  once,  and 
throw  the  flesh  to  the  dogs.  I  left  my 
wife  to  cook  our  meal,  while  I  made 
the  quills  fit  for  her  to  sew  with.  To 
do  this  I  held  a  large  nail  in  the  fire 
till  it  was  red  hot,  and  then  sent  it 
through  the  head  of  the  quill  to  make 
the  eye. 

All  the  time  my  thoughts  were  full 
of  my  house  in  the  air. 

As  we  knew  of  no  way  to  climb  to  the 
top  of  the  trees,  I  hung  the  beds  (which 
I  had  brought  from  the  ship)  from  the 
roots,  for  as  I  have  said,  they  grew  in 


86  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

the  shape  of  an  arch  some  way  from 
the  ground,  while  on  the  top  of  the 
roots  we  spread  the  sails  to  keep  the 
dew  off. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

When  my  wife  sat  down  to  sew,  I 
went  with  my  sons  to  the  shore  in  search 
of  wood  to  build  our  house  with  ;  and 
we  saw  a  vast  deal  that  had  been  thrown 
up  by  the  high  tide,  but  none  fit  for  our 
use. 

As  I  knew  that  a  house  could  not 
be  built  in  a  tree  if  there  were  no  steps 
to  go  up  it,  I  did  not  at  first  see  that 
my  way  was  clear. 

But  by  and  by  the  thought  struck  me 
that  we  might  make  steps  with  two  ropes 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  87 

for  the  sides,  and  bits  of  cane  to  mount 
up  by,  which  we  did  with  great  ease, 
though  we  had  to  nail  all  the  canes  to 
the  ropes  to  make  them  safe.  We 
then  drew  them  up  by  means  of  a  cord, 
which  I  shot  up  in  the  tree  from  a  bow 
with  a  weight  at  the  end  of  it,  so  that 
it  might  fall  back  to  the  ground. 

All  the  boys  were  mad  to  climb  up 
it,  but  I  chose  Frank  to  go  first,  as  he 
was  the  least  weight:  so  up  he  went  while 
we  held  the  ropes  firm.  Then  went 
Fritz  with  the  nails  and  tools,  so  that 
the  two  boys  sat  on  their  perch  in  the 
sky,  and  made  loud  cries  to  us  poor  folk 
down  on  the  dull  earth. 

Then  I  took  boards  up  to  make  the 
floor  of  the  house  with,  and  came  down 
by  the  light  of  the  moon.  But  I  was 
in  great  fear  when  I  found  that  Fritz 
and  Jack  had  not  been  seen,  and  still 


88  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

more  so  when  I  heard  their  clear  tones 
ring  forth  in  song  from  the  tip  top  of 
the  tree,  where  it  was  by  no  means  safe 
to  go.  When  there,  they  were  so 
struck  with  the  grand  view  which  lay 
spread  at  the  foot,  that  they  burst  out 
with  a  hymn  of  praise. 

I  could  not  find  it  in  my  heart  to 
scold  my  dear  boys  when  they  came 
down,  but  told  them  to  tie  up  the  ass 
and  the  cow  for  the  night,  and  get 
wood  for  our  fires,  which  we  should 
stand  in  need  of  to  keep  off  wild  beasts. 
The  doves  had  flown  to  the  top  of  the 
tree  to  perch  there  for  the  night,  and 
we  found  the  fowls  at  roost  on  the 
steps. 

Now  that  the  toils  of  the  day  had 
come  to  an  end,  we  sat  down  to  our  meal. 
Then  I  lit  up  my  watch  fires,  and  we 
all  went  to  rest,  and  slept — all  save  one, 


The  Swiss  Family  Robi7ison.  89 

that  is, — and  that  one  was  I  ;  for  care 
kept  sleep  from  my  eyes  till  near  the 
dawn  of  day,  as  I  did  not  think  we  were 
safe,  but  when  I  had  had  a  short  sleep 
I  rose,  and  we  were  all  once  more  at 
work. 


CHAPTER     XII. 

My  wife  had  the  cow  and  the  goats 
to  milk,  and  when  she  had  done  that 
she  went  in  search  of  wood  for  our  use, 
while  Fritz  and  I  went  up  the  steps 
with  axe  and  saw  to  get  rid  of  each 
branch,  bough,  and  twig,  that  came  in 
our  way.  We  had  put  the  last  stroke 
to  the  floor,  and  next  had  to  hoist  up 
the  sail  for  a  roof. 

The  huge   trunk  of  the   tree  made 


90  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

a  back  to  our  room,  and  the  front  let  in 
a  fresh  breeze  from  the  sea,  of  which 
we  had  a  fine  view.  With  the  rest  of 
the  wood  we  made  a  bench  and  a  few 
chairs. 

While  we  took  our  meal  the  young 
ape  leapt  first  to  this  boy,  then  to  that, 
for  food,  and  ate  what  scraps  they  gave 
him  just  as  we  did,  and  with  such  fun 
in  his  looks  that  he  kept  us  on  the  broad 
laugh  the  whole  time. 

Our  great  sow  now  came  back  to  us 
with  grunts  of  joy.  We  had  not  seen 
her  for  two  days,  and  my  wife  gave  her 
all  the  milk  she  could  spare  to  show  that 
we  were  glad  to  see  her.  The  boys 
then  set  a  light  to  the  fires,  the  dogs 
were  bound  to  the  roots  of  the  trees, 
and  we  went  up  our  steps  for  the  night. 
My  three  big  boys  soon  ran  up  them ; 
my  wife,  who  trod  with  more  care,  went 


The  Swiss  Familv  Robinson.  9 1 

next,  and  got  to  the  top  with  ease.  I  took 
Frank  on  my  back,  and  then  drew  in 
the  steps  ;  and  now  we  felt  safe,  like  the 
knights  of  old  when  their  draw  bridge 
was  up. 


CHAPTER     XIII. 

We  did  not  wake  till  the  sun 
shone  on  us,  and  as  it  was  the  Lord's 
Day,  of  course  we  did  no  work,  but  we 
sang  hymns,  which  we  knew  by  heart, 
and  we  could  pray,  though  we  had  no 
books. 

The  next  day  all  the  lads  shot  with 
bows,  and  I  made  a  small  one  for 
Frank.  So  he  set  off  with  his  bow  in  his 
hand,  of  which  he  was  as  proud  as  a 
prince. 


92  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

It  was  my  whim  to  give  names  to  all 
those  parts  of  the  isle  which  were  well 
known  to  us.  The  bay  where  we  first 
came  to  land,  Ned  said  we  ought  to 
call  the  Bay  of  Tears  when  we  thought 
of  all  those  that  poor  Jack  had  shed 
there. 

"  Nay,"  said  my  wife,  "as  it  is  the 
place  where  we  first  set  foot  on  dry 
ground,  I  think  we  should  give  it  the 
name  of  the  Bay  of  Joy.  Our  first 
home  had  the  name  of  Tent  House; 
the  small  isle  where  the  fish  was  found, 
Shark  Isle  ;  and  the  swamp  where  the 
canes  were  cut,  Bow  Marsh. 

My  wife  and  boys  had  a  glass  of  sweet 
wine  to  drink  the  health  of  the  chicks 
and  all  who  were  at  Kite's  Nest — for  this 
was  the  name  I  gave  to  our  new  home. 
When  the  heat  of  the  day  had  gone  off, 
we  set  out  to  Tent  House  to  get  more 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  93 

food,  and  to  bring  the  geese  and  ducks. 
This  time  we  did  not  go  by  the  banks 
of  the  stream,  but  kept  in  the  shade 
of  the  chain  of  rocks  till  we  got  to  the 
Swiss  Bridge.  Ned  wore  a  belt  of 
skin  from  the  hide  of  the  wolf. 

Each  of  us  had  a  gun  and  game  bag 
save  Frank,  who,  with  his  fair  face,  his 
gold  hair,  his  bow  and  darts,  was  a 
sweet  sight  to  look  at.  Then  came 
Turk  and  Flox,  but  someway  off,  for  they 
were  in  fear  of  Frank's  darts.  Knips 
— the  ape — took  his  seat  on  the  back 
of  Flox,  who  could  not  shake  him 
off. 

New  and  bright  scenes  now  burst  on 
our  view  on  all  sides.  The  fig  tree 
grew  here,  the  fruit  of  which  was  of 
great  size  and  good  to  the  taste.  Jack 
was  soon  on  the  top  of  the  sand  rocks 
to  pick  some  ;  but  it  had  not  struck  him 


94  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

that  the  figs  had  small  thorns  as  fine  as 
a  pins  point,  which,  of  course,  stung  his 
hands  and  hurt  him.  He  came  back 
with  sad  cries,  and  we  could  see  him 
dance  with  the  pain.  I  took  out  the 
thorns,  and  put  him  in  the  right  way  to 
treat  the  fruit,  which  was  to  run  a  piece 
of  stick  through  the  fig,  and  then  pare 
it;  and  soon  all  the  boys  sat  down  to 
eat  them,  and  gave  the  best  sign  that 
they  thought  them  good. 

While  I  put  the  stores  on  the  ass  and 
cow,  my  wife  and  Frank  had  to  cook 
all  the  good  things.  Ned  and  Jack 
went  to  try  to  catch  the  geese  and  ducks, 
which  had  grown  so  wild,  that  but  for 
a  bright  thought  of  Ned's,  they  could 
not  have  done  so.  His  plan  was  to 
fix  a  piece  of  cheese  to  a  thread  for  a 
bait,  which  was  made  to  float  on  the 
stream  :  the  ducks  soon  took  the  cheese 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  95 

down  their  throats,  and  were  drawn  out 
by  the  thread.  He  then  cut  off  the 
thread  close  to  the  beak,  and  left  the 
rest  of  it  in  their  craw,  and  threw  them 
neck  and  heels  in  the  game  bag. 


CHAPTER     XIV. 

I  had  seen  on  the  shore  some  wood 
which  I  thought  would  serve  to  build  a 
sledge  with,  on  which  we  could  take 
our  casks  and  stores  from  Tent  House 
to  Kite's  Nest.  The  next  day  at  dawn 
I  woke  up  Ned,  and  left  the  rest  to 
sleep.  We  went  down  to  the  shore, 
and  set  to  work  at  the  wood,  and  cut 
it  the  right  length  with  the  saw  ;  we 
then  bound  it  to  the  ass,  who  drew  it 
with  a  good  heart.     We  threw  on  it  a 


9  6  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

small  chest  that  we  found  sunk  half  way 
in  the  sand,  and  Ned  led  the  ass. 

The  chest  was  full  of  the  clothes  of 
the  crew,  which  were  wet  with  the  sea  ; 
but  my  wife  thought  much  of  them,  for 
she  said  that  our  own  would  soon  be 
worn  out.  Fritz  and  Jack  had  shot 
some  birds,  but  I  said,  "It  will  save 
our  shot  if  you  set  snares  to  catch 
them."  And  I  taught  them  how  to  do 
so  with  threads  which  we  drew  from 
the  leaves  of  plants  that  we  had  found. 

Then  my  two  boys  and  I  made  the 
sledge,  but  while  we  were  at  work  on  it 
we  heard  a  great  noise  from  the  fowls. 
Ned  went  out  to  look  round  him,  and 
saw  the  young  ape  seize  and  hide  the 
eggs  from  the  nests,  of  which  he  had 
made  a  store  at  the  foot  of  our  tree. 
When  my  wife  heard  of  it,  Knips  had 
a  box  on  the  ear,  and  from  that  time  he 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  97 

was  shut  up  till  all  the  eggs  had  been 
brought  in.  When  Jack  went  up  the 
trees  to  set  the  snares  he  found  that  the 
doves  built  there.  I  told  him  to  keep 
a  sharp  look  out  that  our  own  birds  were 
not  caught  in  them,  and  by  no  means  to 
fire  his  gun  in  the  tree. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

At  the  end  of  the  day  I  had  made 
my  sledge  in  this  way :  in  the  first 
place,  there  were  two  long  planks  of 
wood  with  a  curve  in  them,  and  on 
these  were  three  short  ones  put  cross 
ways.  The  fore  and  hind  parts  were 
in  the  form  of  horns,  so  that  the  load 
might  not  fall  out. 

Two   ropes   were   bound  on  to  the 

H 


98  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

front,  and  my  sledge  was  made.  My 
wife  was  loud  in  her  praise  of  it,  and 
Ned  and  I  set  off  with  it  to  Tent 
House  for  some  more  casks,  as  our  food 
had  got  low  ;  and  I  left  the  rest  in  the 
care  of  Fritz.  We  bound  the  cow  and 
ass  to  the  sledge,  made  a  whip  out  of 
a  cane  and  a  piece  of  twine,  and  took 
our  way  by  the  shore,  as  that  was  the 
best  road  for  the  sledge ;  and  by  the 
help  of  Swiss  Bridge  we  were  soon  at 
Tent  House.  Here  we  took  out  the 
ass  and  cow  and  let  them  graze,  and 
soon  set  to  work  to  load  the  sledge  once 
more  with  all  that  we  could  find  that 
was  good  to  eat. 

So  hard  at  work  were  we  at  this,  that 
we  did  not  give  the  beasts  a  thought, 
but  they  took  it  in  their  heads  to  cross 
the  bridge,  and  roam  out  of  sight.  I 
told  Ned  to  look  to  them,   and  in  the 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  99 

mean  time  I  cut  a  load  of  the  rush 
which  grew  in  that  part.  When  Ned 
came  back  I  found  he  had  made  good 
use  of  his  wits,  for  he  took  care  to  lift 
off  the  first  planks  of  the  bridge,  so  that 
there  was  now  no  fear  that  the  beasts 
would  stray. 

We  took  a  bathe,  and  then  Fritz 
went  to  fish.  He  had  not  been  gone 
long  when  I  heard  him  cry  out : 

"  Oh,  pray  come  and  help  me ;  here 
is  such  a  huge  fish  !  I  can't  hold  it,  it 
will  break  my  line  ! " 

I  ran  up  to  lend  my  aid,  and  found 
that  poor  Fritz  lay  with  his  face  on  the 
ground,  and  gave  tugs  at  his  line,  to 
which  hung  so  large  a  fish  that  it  all  but 
broke  it. 

I  drew  it  to  a  pool,  and  we  thought 
our  good  cook  would  be  much  struck 
with  such  a  prize  ;   so  I  put  some  salt 


H    2 


ioo  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

to   it,   and    brought    it   home   on   the 
sledge. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

When  I  got  home  I  found  that  the 
boys  were  clad  in  the  clothes  which  we 
found  in  the  small  chest,  and  this  new 
style  of  dress  brought  screams  of  mirth 
from  all,  as  the  clothes  did  not  suit 
their  shape  or  their  age ;  but  my  wife 
thought  that  to  wear  these  was  not  so 
bad  as  to  go  with  none  at  all.  The 
next  day  when  I  rose,  I  broke  the  news 
to  her  that  I  must  go  once  more  to  the 
wreck,  and  bade  Fritz  get  out  all  that 
we  should  want. 

My  wife  was  as  sad  this  time  as  the 
last,  and  to  add  to  her  grief,  Ned  and 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  ioi 

Jack  were  no  where  to  be  found. 
But  we  set  out  for  Tent  House,  and 
on  our  way  we  heard  cries  so  loud 
as  to  fill  the  air.  We  gave  a  start, 
and  all  at  once  Ned  and  Jack  leapt 
from  some  trees,  mad  with  glee  to  find 
that  their  plan  to  join  us  should  (as  they 
thought)  turn  out  so  well.  Their  fun 
was  to  make  us  think  that  a  tribe  of 
wild  men  stood  round  us  to  close  us  in ; 
but  I  sent  them  both  back,  and  told 
them  that  it  was  wrong  to  come  out 
when  they  had  not  had  leave  to  do  so. 
At  this  they  felt  much  shame,  and  hung 
down  their  heads ;  but  to  cheer  them 
up,  I  bade  Fritz  give  Ned  his  watch 
that  he  might  know  how  the  time  went 
while  we  were  gone.  And  as  I  had 
seen  a  case  full  of  them  in  the  ship, 
I  knew  it  would  be  no  loss  to  us.  We 
got  out  our  boat,  and  by  the  aid  of  the 


102  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

stream  which  ran  through  the  bay  we 
soon  came  up  to  the  ship. 

The  first  work  to  turn  our  hands  to 
was  to  make  a  new  raft.  We  found  at 
least  ten  tubs,  which  we  threw  in  the 
sea,  and  laid  some  long  planks  on  them, 
and  these  we  bound  to  them  with  ropes. 
This  took  up  the  whole  of  the  first  day, 
and  we  had  but  time  to  eat  some  cold 
meat  which  we  had  brought  with  us, 
and  then  we  went  to  rest  for  the 
night. 


CHAPTER     XVII. 

The  next  day  we  put  the  goods  on 
the  raft,  and  took  all  that  we  could  lay 
our  hands  on.  There  were  rich  gems 
of  great   cost,    gold,    and    some   small 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  103 

cash ;  these  we  had  at  first  a  wish  to 
take,  but  soon  gave  them  up  for  things 
that  would  be  of  more  use  to  us,  such 
as  a  case  of  plants  and  trees  which  were 
kept  in  damp  moss.  I  saw  with  joy 
two  or  three  plum  trees,  some  young 
shoots  of  the  vine,  and  a  peach  tree. 
How  I  did  long  to  plant  them  ! 

There  were  pigs  of  lead,  cart  wheels, 
tongs,  coils  of  wire,  sacks  of  maize,  peas, 
oats,  and  a  small  hand  mill.  We  knew 
not  what  to  take,  and  what  to  leave,  but 
we  brought  as  much  as  it  was  safe  for 
the  raft  to  hold,  and  then  we  made  for 
the  shore. 

Though  the  wind  was  fair,  yet  we 
got  on  at  a  slow  rate,  for  the  mass  we 
had  to  tug  kept  us  back.  When  we 
came  on  shore  Fritz  gave  a  shout.  All 
ran  to  greet  us,  and  great  was  their  joy 
to  see  such  a  load  of  goods.     I  sent  the 


104  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

boys  for  the  sledge  to  take  some  of  our 
freight  on  shore  at  once,  as  the  ebb 
tide  left  our  boat  dry  on  the  sand. 

By  the  aid  of  the  jack  screw  we 
brought  two  large  rolls  of  lead  from  the 
raft ;  and  these  were  a  great  boon  to  us, 
as  we  stood  in  need  of  them  to  make 
shot  with.  We  took  on  shore  the  chest 
of  tools,  and  wheels  for  our  sledge,  and 
then  we  sat  down  in  the  shade  to  rest 
and  eat  our  meal. 

"  And  now,"  said  my  wife,  "  since 
you  have  had  such  a  hard  day's  work, 
I  think  I  can  give  you  some  wine  to 
cheer  you  up." 

She  then  brought  out  some  choice 
wine  from  a  small  cask  that  had  been 
cast  on  shore  by  the  waves,  and  which 
she  and  the  boys  had  brought  to  Kite's 
Nest. 

My  wife  went  up  the  steps  to  stow 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  105 

the  goods,  which  took  all  our  strength 
to  hoist  up  to  her.  This  done,  we  lay 
down  on  our  beds,  and  I  need  not  add 
that  our  sleep  that  night  was  sound  and 
sweet. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Day  by  day  we  went  to  the  wreck, 
for  a  whole  week,  for  we  had  found  a 
great  prize  there  in  the  shape  of  a  boat. 

"  To  work  !  To  work  ! "  said  I  to 
the  three  boys. 

Each  piece  of  it  had  a  chalk  mark 
to  show  where  it  was  to  join  to  the  next. 
I  saw  it  would  take  some  days  to  make, 
and  I  could  get  no  sleep  that  night  for 
the  thought  of  it. 

To  clear  a  space  on  deck  for  it  took 


106  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

us  an  hour  or  two,  and  we  came  on 
shore  each  night  when  our  work  was 
done,  but  not  to  the  Kite's  Nest ;  for  my 
dear  wife  had  left  it  and  come  to  Tent 
House,  as  she  thought  it  would  suit  us 
best  to  be  there  while  we  had  this  long 
job  in  hand.  At  last  our  boat  was  set 
up.  It  was  light,  and  had  the  look  of 
a  craft  that  would  sail  well.  At  the 
head  was  a  short  deck,  and  the  masts 
and  sails  were  stout.  To  caulk  all  the 
seams  with  tow  and  tar  was  the  last 
thing  we  did,  but  just  for  the  look  of  it 
we  put  two  small  guns  in,  which  we 
bound  to  its  side  by  chains.  And  now 
the  boat  stood  on  the  stocks,  but  how 
could  we  get  it  to  float  ?  The  ship's 
side  was  so  strong  that  to  force  a  way 
for  it  was  not  to  be  thought  of;  all  at 
once  a  bold  plan  struck  me,  but  in 
which  there  was  some  risk  that  all  might 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  107 

be  lost  as  well  as  won.  In  a  word,  that 
part  of  the  ship  which  stood  in  the  way 
of  the  launch,  I  blew  up.  But  I  did 
not  make  my  scheme  known  lest  it 
should  not  turn  out  as  I  could  wish. 
So  I  laid  down  a  long  match  and  then 
came  on  shore. 

When  it  blew  up,  "  What's  that  ?  " 
said  all  my  boys  at  once,  with  a  start. 
"It  must  be  some  foe,"  said  Jack. 
Fritz  thought  it  might  be  a  ship  out 
at  sea  in  want  of  help ;  but  Ned  said, 
"  Let's  get  out  the  glass  and  see." 

My  wife's  fears  were  that  we  had  left 
a  light  on  board,  and  that  this  had 
blown  up  the  wreck. 

"  Be  that  as  it  may,"  said  I,  "we  will 
go  and  find  out  the  cause  of  it,  for 
it  is  from  the  wreck  that  the  sound 
came.  Who  will  go  with  me  ?  My 
three  sons  at   once  leapt  in  the  boat, 


108  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

and  off  we  went,  and  as  we  had  each 
an  oar,  we  were  soon  on  board  the  ship, 
which  lay  just  where  we  had  left  it ; 
part  of  the  side  was  gone,  and  in  its 
place  stood  our  boat  safe  and  sound. 

"All  hail!  All  hail!"  I  sang  out. 
"  The  boat  is  our  own,  for  now  we  can 
launch  her  !" 

"  Ah,  I  see,"  said  Fritz,  "  you  have 
blown  up  the  ship.  But  how  could  you 
do  it  so  as  to  save  the  boat  ? " 

"  You  will  see  by  and  by,"  said  I. 

To  launch,  load,  and  fit  out  our  boat 
took  us  two  days. 

At  last  we  put  up  our  masts  and  sails, 
and  when  we  got  to  the  Bay,  I  gave 
my  boys  leave  to  fire  one  of  the  guns : 
so  Ned  and  Jack  put  the  match  to 
it,  and  bang  !  it  went.  My  wife  and 
Frank  ran  out  in  great  fear,  but  our 
shouts  of  joy  soon  told  the  glad  tale, 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  109 

and  a  plank  was  put  that  my  wife  might 
get  in  the  boat ;  and  she  could  but  praise 
our  skill,  "for,"  said  she,  "the  boat 
rides  on  the  waves  like  a  queen  in  full 
state." 

We  soon  came  on  shore,  and  when 
we  had  got  as  far  as  the  Swiss  Bridge 
my  wife  held  out  her  hand  to  point 
with  some  pride  to  a  plot  of  ground 
which  she  and  Frank  had  laid  out  in 
beds  and  walks. 

"  See  !  this  is  our  work  ! "  said  she. 
"  Here  are  peas,  and  beans,  as  well  as 
pines,  and  maize/' 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

We  then  got  to  Kite's  Nest,  to  the 
great  joy  of  my  wife,  who  had  a  dread 


no  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

of  the  heat  of  Tent  House.  The  next 
day  I  found  that  the  doves  had  built  in 
our  tree,  and  that  the  nests  had  eggs  in 
them.  We  brought  out  the  fruit  trees 
which  we  had  found  on  board  the  ship, 
and  we  laid  out  a  piece  of  ground  to 
plant  them  in.  As  we  had  no  meat  to 
eat  we  went  out  with  our  guns  in  search 
of  game.  My  wife  went  with  us  this 
time,  as  she  had  a  wish  to  see  the  world. 
The  three  boys  and  I  set  off  with  our 
guns,  next  came  my  wife,  and  Frank — 
who  led  the  ass, — then  Knips  on  the 
back  of  the  mild  Flox. 

We  soon  came  to  the  wood,  where 
Fritz  and  I  had  the  fight  with  the 
apes.  Ned  gave  a  look  at  the  nuts, 
but  there  were  no  apes  there  this  time 
to  throw  them  down. 

"  Do  they  not  fall  from  the  trees 
when  they  are  ripe?"  said  Ned;  when 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  1 1 1 

down  fell  a  nut  at  his  feet,  then  one  or 
two  more.  "  My  words  act  like  a 
charm  ! "  said  he  ;  "  I  have  but  to  speak, 
you  see,  and  they  fall  at  my  feet." 

"  Here  comes  the  rogue  that  sent 
them,"  said  I,  when  I  saw  a  huge  land 
crab  come  down  from  the  tree. 

Jack  struck  a  blow  at  him,  but  did 
not  hit  him.  The  beast  spread  out  his 
claws  and  made  up  to  him,  when  poor 
Jack  fled  in  great  fear.  But  a  loud 
laugh  from  the  rest  gave  him  pluck, 
and  he  threw  off  his  coat  and  put  the 
beast  to  death. 

All  got  round  it  to  see  what  it  was 
like,  and  I  told  them  that  when  the  nuts 
do  not  break  by  the  fall,  the  crab  puts 
its  claw  in  the  small  holes  which  are 
at  the  top  of  the  shell  to  take  out  the 
nut,  which  it  eats.  We  then  went  to 
the  Gourd  Wood,  where  my  wife  and 


112  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

boys  were  much  struck  with  the  growth  of 
the  large  gourds  which  they  found  there. 
When  we  sat  down  to  our  meal,  Fritz 
made  a  large  spoon  out  of  one  of  them 
to  skim  the  milk  with,  as  well  as  bowls 
and  flasks ;  while  Ned — who  had  no 
taste  for  work  of  that  sort — went  for  a 
stroll  in  the  thick  wood. 

All  at  once  we  saw  him  run  to  us  in 
great  fear,  and  cry  out,  "  A  wild  boar ! 
A  great  wild  boar  ! " 

Fritz  and  I  took  up  our  guns  and 
ran  to  the  spot,  but  the  dogs  went 
first.  We  soon  heard  barks  and  loud 
grunts,  by  which  we  knew  that  a  fight 
went  on,  and  off  we  set  in  the  hope  of 
a  good  prize. 

What  did  we  see, — a  wild  boar  ? 
No,  but  our  own  great  sow,  which  Turk 
and  Flox  held  by  the  ears  !  She  had 
grown  so  wild  that  she  had  left  us  to 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  1 1 3 

live  in  the   woods ;    and  of    course    I 
made  the  dogs  give  up  their  prize. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

The  next  day  I  thought  I  would 
roam  far  and  near  till  I  made  sure 
that  we  were  in  good  truth  on  an  isle  ; 
and  I  took  with  me  Fritz,  Turk,  and 
the  ass.  As  we  went  through  a  wood 
of  oaks  we  met  with  the  sow  once  more, 
but  this  time  she  did  not  run  from  us. 

Fritz  shot  some  birds  of  the  jay 
tribe,  and  he  had  not  had  time  to  load 
his  gun  when  we  heard  a  strange  noise 
like  a  drum,  but  not  so  loud,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  sharp,  harsh  cry.  We  both 
made  a  rush  with  our  guns  to  a  copse, 


ii4  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

and  there  we  found  a  green  bird,  which 
spread  his  wings  and  gave  a  strut  up 
and  down  the  branch  of  a  tree,  where 
he  made  his  shrill  note,  and  the  sound 
of  the  drum  came  from  his  wing,  which 
he  struck  on  the  stem  of  it.  I  knew 
this  to  be  the  green  grouse,  and  as  all 
at  home  were  much  in  want  of  food, 
Fritz  shot  the  bird. 

In  this  tour  we  met  with  no  sort  of 
fright,  and  no  one  thing  to  boast  of. 
We  then  came  home  to  turn  our  hands 
to  a  cart ;  for  we  found  we  could  not'go 
far  from  home  for  the  want  of  one. 
We  made  a  rough  sort  of  thing  with 
the  wheels  which  we  had  brought  from 
the  wreck,  and  found  it  of  great  use  to 
us. 

In  the  mean  time  my  wife  and  three 
sons  had  set  to  work  to  plant  the  vines, 
and  the  quince,  plum,  and  pear  trees 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  1 1 5 

near  our  new  home.  The  rest  I  put  in 
the  ground  round  Tent  House,  which 
was  our  strong  fort  now,  and  held  our 
arms  and  stores.  It  was  shut  in  by  a 
high  hedge  of  thick  trees,  so  that  no 
man  or  beast  could  get  to  it.  There 
was  but  one  way  in,  and  that  was  near 
Swiss  Bridge,  the  first  planks  of  which 
we  took  up  when  we  left  it.  All  this 
took  us  three  months  to  do. 

Our  clothes  were  now  in  a  bad  state, 
and  we  could  see  no  way  to  get  new 
ones,  save  by  a  sail  to  the  wreck  in  our 
new  boat :  so  off  we  went,  and  we  found 
it  in  much  the  same  state  as  we  had 
left  it. 

We  brought  some  of  our  own  clothes, 

bales  of  cloth,  some  tar,  doors,  locks, 

bolts,  and  all   the   guns   that   we  had 

strength  to  move ;  in  fact,  we  might  be 

said  to  sack  the  ship,  and  when  we  had 

1  2 


n6  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

done  this,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  blow 
it  up.  So  we  put  a  long  match  which 
I  knew  would  take  some  hours  to  burn, 
and  went  at  once  to  the  Bay  to  watch 
the  wreck.  My  wife  spread  our  meal 
on  a  point  of  land  where  we  could  see 
the  ship,  and  just  as  the  sun  went  down, 
off  it  went  with  a  crash,  and  a  pile  of 
flame  burst  up  to  the  sky. 

When  we  heard  this  we  could  not 
but  shed  tears,  as  we  lost  the  sole  bond 
which  bound  us  to  the  land  from  which 
the  ship  had  brought  us ;  and  we  went 
back  with  sad  hearts  to  Tent  House. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

The  next  day  we  made  a  search  for 
wood,  and  found  loads  of  it  strewn  on 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  117 

the  shore  from  the  ship.  My  wife  who 
came  to  help  us,  saw  on  a  small  lake 
one  of  our  geese  and  two  ducks,  each 
with  a  brood  in  her  wake.  She  had  a 
wish  to  get  some  eggs  of  the  wild  fowl 
to  put  in  the  hens  nests.  So  we  made 
a  tour  in  search  of  some,  took  our  food 
with  us,  and  a  large  sail  to  make  a  tent 
with.  The  day  was  all  that  we  could 
wish,  not  too  warm  nor  too  cold,  and  in 
high  glee  we  sang  as  we  went. 

We  came  to  a  large  plain  where  the 
canes  grew,  at  the  back  of  which  were 
palm  woods,  and  then  the  sea.  We 
were  so  much  struck  with  the  place  that 
we  thought  we  should  do  well  to  move 
from  Kite's  Nest  to  this  sweet  spot ; 
but  we  soon  gave  up  the  thought. 
'  For,"  said  I,  "where  shall  we  find  a 
home  so  safe  and  snug  as  our  dear  nest 
up  in  the  tree  ?" 


1 1 8  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

So  our  tent  here  was  to  be  kept  as 
a  place  to  rest  and  eat  our  meals  in 
when  we  made  a  tour.  We  let  the  ass 
and  cow  graze  on  the  rich  grass  round 
us,  and  spent  the  night  here.  The 
next  day  we  set  to  work  to  tie  up  the 
large  canes,  and  put  them  in  the  cart 
to  take  home,  for  we  had  need  of  them 
as  props  for  our  new  fruit  trees. 

This  hard  work  made  my  boys  long 
for  some  milk  from  the  nuts,  and  they 
did  all  they  could  to  climb  the  smooth 
bare  trunk  of  the  tree,  but  in  vain ; 
at  last  I  gave  them  some  of  the  rough 
skin  of  the  shark  to  brace  on  their  legs, 
which  I  had  brought  for  that  use. 
Then  I  taught  them  to  climb  by  the 
aid  of  a  rope,  which  was  flung  round 
the  tree  with  a  noose,  when  they  soon 
got  to  the  top,  and  an  axe  which  was 
hung  to  their  belt,  did  the  rest  of  the 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,  119 

work,  for  the  nuts  fell  down  by  scores. 
On  these  we  made  a  feast,  and  the  jests 
of  Fritz  and  Jack  went  round  ;  for  they 
did  not  spare  poor  Ned,  who  was  lost 
in  some  new  thought. 

When  all  at  once  up  he  sprang,  took 
the  shell  of  a  nut  in  his  left  hand,  and 
in  his  right  a  tin  flask,  and  with  a  grave 
air  spoke  thus  : — "  Dear  friends,  I  feel 
that  all  praise  is  due  to  the  shark,  whose 
skin  gave  you  the  means  to  climb  so 
well.  And  though  in  the  nuts  which 
you  have  sent  down  to  us  we  have 
found  at  once  meat  and  drink,  yet  I 
hope  by  my  skill  to  tempt  your  lips 
with  some  juice  from  this  flask  that  will 
give  joy  to  your  hearts,  and  bring  to 
mind  the  good  feasts  of  our  old 
Swiss  home." 

He  then  bound  his  legs  with  the 
shark's   skin,   and   sprang   up  a   palm, 


1 20  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

which  he  had  long  been  seen  to  gaze  at 
through  his  glass. 

Ned  took  no  heed  of  the  loud  laugh 
which  the  boys  gave  at  this  speech  ; 
but  as  soon  as  he  got  to  the  top,  he 
struck  the  tree  with  his  axe,  and  a 
tuft  of  light  green  leaves  fell  at  our 
feet,  which  I  knew  were  those  of  the 
palm. 

He  now  came  down  and  held  out 
to  me  his  cup,  which  was  full  of  a 
wine  as  pink  as  the  rose,  and  then 
said,  "  I  beg  of  you  to  drink  my 
health." 

It  was  the  true  palm  wine  ;  of  it  we 
all  drank,  and  gave  great  praise  to 
Ned,  who  thought  no  more  of  the 
jokes  which  had  been  thrown  out  at 
him. 

As  it  now  grew  late  we  set  up  the 
tent  for  the  night,  when  all  at  once  our 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  121 

ass,  which  till  now  had  stood  quite  still 
near  us,  gave  a  loud  bray,  stuck  up  his 
ears,  and  with  a  kick  right  and  left, 
gave  a  plunge,  and  was  lost  in  the  cane 
wood. 

This  I  did  not  like  at  all ;  for  I  felt 
loth  to  lose  the  poor  ass  that  was  of  so 
much  use  to  us,  and  more  than  this,  I 
had  my  fears  that  some  beast  of  prey  was 
near,  which  he  might  have  caught  sight 
of.  The  dogs  and  I  sought  far  and 
near  for  a  trace  of  him,  but  in  vain  ;  so 
then  to  guard  the  tent  I  made  a  large  fire, 
which  I  sat  to  watch  till  the  night  was 
half  spent,  when  as  all  was  still,  I  crept 
to  my  bed  of  moss  in  the  tent  to  sleep. 
At  break  of  day  we  all  fell  on  our  knees 
to  thank  God  for  His  gift  of  health  and 
strength. 


122  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

CHAPTER     XXII. 

I  then  went  with  Jack  in  search  of 
the  ass,  for  I  thought  Fritz  and  Ned 
would  make  the  best  guard  for  my  wife. 
We  made  a  search  in  the  cane  wood  for 
an  hour  or  more,  but  still  in  vain.  At 
last  we  saw  the  marks  of  hoofs  and  the 
foot  marks  of  some  beast  that  we  knew 
not  of. 

A  long  way  off  we  saw  some  vague 
things,  which  I  took  for  wild  beasts, 
and  as  I  went  through  a  wood  to  see  if 
our  ass  were  with  them,  we  came  face 
to  face  with  a  herd  of  wild  bulls 
and  cows.  And  to  see  them  troop 
up  to  us,  lift  their  heads,  and  fix 
their  large  eyes  on  us,  struck  me  with 
such  awe  that  at  first  I  could  not  use 
my  gun. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  123 

By  good  luck  the  dogs  were  in  the 
rear.  We  drew  back  a  pace  or  two, 
got  out  our  arms,  and  then  made  off  on 
one  side,  when  up  came  Turk  and 
Flox,  and  though  we  did  all  we  could 
to  hold  them  in,  they  would  fly  at  the 
herd. 

And  now  a  scene  took  place  which 
it  makes  my  hair  stand  on  end  to  think 
of.  We  heard  a  whole  troop  of  them 
lift  up  their  voice  and  roar,  we  saw  them 
beat  the  ground  with  their  feet,  and 
butt  with  their  horns.  Our  brave  dogs 
went  straight  at  them,  and  fell  on  a  calf 
which  they  took  hold  of  by  the  ears. 
The  cow,  whose  eyes  were  red  and 
whose  blood  would  seem  to  boil  with 
rage,  came  full  drive  at  us  to  shield 
her  young  one,  and  with  her  the  whole 
herd. 

Just  then — I    shake  with  fear  as   I 


1 24  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

write  it — I  made  a  sign  to  my  brave 
Jack,  who  was  more  cool  than  I,  and 
we  shot  at  them. 

This  made  the  whole  herd  pause  for 
a  while,  and  they  took  to  flight  so  fast 
that  ere  the  smoke  from  the  guns  was 
blown  off  they  were  out  of  sight.  My 
dogs  still  held  their  prize,  and  the  cow, 
though  she  had  two  wounds  from  our 
shot,  made  a  rush  at  us,  and  tore  up 
the  ground  in  her  rage.  She  then  set 
at  the  dogs  to  toss  them  with  her 
horns;  but  just  then  I  came  up,  and 
sent  a  shot  in  her  head,  which  laid  her 
dead  on  the  spot. 

We  now  had  time  to  take  breath. 
We  had  seen  death  stare  us  in  the  face ; 
and  we  gave  thanks  to  God,  who 
had  brought  us  through  such  great 
risks. 

The  dogs  still  held  the  calf  by  the 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,  125 

ears  ;  the  poor  thing  kept  up  a  loud 
roar  all  the  time,  and  I  had  my  fears 
lest  the  dogs  should  be  hurt,  or  lose 
their  prize.  I  went  up  to  give  them 
help,  but  knew  not  how  to  act.  It 
would  have  been  no  hard  task  to  kill 
the  calf ;  but  I  had  a  great  wish 
to  bring  him  home  and  tame  him, 
that  he  might  take  the  place  of  our 
ass. 

Now  Jack  hit  on  the  right  thing  to 
do  ;  he  flung  a  rope  round  the  hind 
legs  of  the  calf,  and  so  threw  him 
down ;  then  I  came  up,  put  a  strong 
rope  in  the  place  of  the  thin  one, 
and  bound  a  loose  cord  round  his  fore 
legs. 

Jack  thought  of  the  joy  with  which 
those  at  home  would  hail  us  when  they 
saw  us  with  this  prize.  But  how 
were  we  to  get  the  calf  to  move  ?     He 


126  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

would  not  stir  a  step ;  at  last  I  thought 
of  the  mode  made  use  of  in  the  East, 
which  is  to  bore  a  hole  in  the  nose,  and 
put  a  cord  through  it.  This  cord  was 
to  serve  as  my  rein  to  guide  the  poor 
beast,  and  the  plan  did  well. 

I  did  not  wish  to  leave  the  whole  of 
the  cow  I  had  put  to  death,  as  the  meat 
is  so  good,  so  I  cut  out  the  tongue  and 
some  of  the  best  parts  of  the  loin,  put 
salt  on  them,  and  took  them  with  me  ; 
and  I  tore  the  skin  off  the  fore  legs,  as 
I  knew  I  could  make  good  boots  with 
it  We  let  the  dogs  feast  on  the  rest, 
and  while  they  made  their  meal  on 
it,  we  went  to  a  stream  to  wash, 
and  then  sat  in  the  shade  of  a  large  tree. 

Clouds  of  birds  of  prey  came  from 
all  parts  to  feast  on  the  cow,  and  a 
fight  was  kept  up  the  whole  time,  till 
none  was  left  but  the  bare  bones. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  127 

In  the  mean  time  the  same  sort  of 
work  went  on  at  the  tent ;  for  while 
Fritz  and  Ned  had  gone  to  the  wood 
to  cut  down  a  palm  tree,  a  troop  of 
apes  got  in  the  tent,  and  ate  all  they 
could  find. 

We  made  a  fire  of  green  wood,  in 
the  smoke  of  which  we  put  the  flesh 
of  the  wild  cow,  and  left  it  there  all 
night,  and  we  found  it  was  nice  to  the 
taste. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

The  next  day  we  all  set  off  home, 
and  were  glad  to  find  that  the  calf 
could  graze.  He  was  now  put  to  draw 
the  cart  by  the  side  of  his  nurse  (our 


128  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

own  cow),  and  these  took  the  place  of 
our  lost  ass. 

Fritz  and  Jack  now  went  to  cut 
down  the  short  wood  to.  make  a  road 
for  the  cart,  and  as  they  did  so,  the 
dogs,  who  were  with  them,  burst 
out  in  howls  and  cries.  I  had  much 
fear  lest  they  should  have  met  with 
a  beast  of  prey ;  so  I  made  a  rush  to 
the  spot,  that  I  might  use  my  gun,  and 
found  that  the  dogs  kept  some  beast  at 
bay ;  but  I  could  not  see  what  it  was 
for  the  thick  shrubs. 

Fritz  told  me  he  had  caught  a 
glimpse  of  some  wild  beast  with  a 
black  skin ;  but  Jack,  who  lay  on  the 
ground  to  spy  at  it,  burst  out  with  a 
loud  laugh,  and  said.  "It  is  one  more 
trick  of  that  old  sow !  All  she  seems 
good  for,  I  think,  is  to  make  fools  of 
us!"      Half    in   a   rage,    and    half  in 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  1 29 

mirth,  we  made  our  way  up  to  the  spot, 
and  there  she  was  with  ten  voung  ones 
a  few  days  old.  We  were  glad  to  see  our 
old  friend  with  all  these  pigs  round  her, 
for  which  we  gave  her  a  stroke,  and  a  soft 
grunt  made  it  quite  plain  that  it  was  as 
great  a  source  of  joy  to  her  as  it  was  to 
us.  The  poor  thing  knew  not  that  our 
plan  was  to  eat  her  young  ones  as  soon 
as  they  were  fit  for  the  spit,  and  my 
wife  and  boys  could  not  bear  the 
thoughts  of  it.  But  I  told  them  we 
must  eat  meat  or  die. 

At  length  we  came  to  Kite's  Nest, 
where  our  first  work  was  to  make  some 
stairs  in  the  place  of  the  rope  steps ; 
and  this  took  us  a  month  to  do. 

"  Come  !  come  and  see  Flox  ! "  said 

Frank,    in    high   glee  ;     "  she   has    six 

pups  !    but   I   fear   they  are  all   blind." 

As   these  were   more    than   we    could 

x 


1 30  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

keep,  I  had  all  put  to  death  save  two ; 
to  which  Frank  gave  the  names  of  Bob 
and  Nell.  Frank,  too,  made  great  pets 
of  three  young  kids  which  were  just 
born,  as  well  as  the  lambs  ;  and  to  love 
and  make  much  of  these  was  a  new  life 
to  him.  For  fear  our  sheep  should 
stray  as  the  ass  had  done,  we  hung 
some  small  bells,  which  we  had  brought 
from  the  ship,  round  their  necks. 


CHAPTER     XXIV. 

One  day,  just  as  we  had  come  to  the 
end  of  our  work  at  the  stairs,  we  heard 
some  way  off  a  noise  like  the  roar  of  a 
wild  beast,  but  with  it  a  long  sharp 
sound  and  a  strange  kind  of  hiss.  Our 
dogs  stuck  up   their  ears,  while  we  all 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  131 

got  up  a  tree  to  look  out,  in  no  small 
fear  of  the  noise,  which  we  thought 
came  more  and  more  near.  At  length 
Fritz  threw  down  his  gun,  and  said 
with  a  loud  laugh,  "  It  is  our  friend  the 
ass,  come  back  to  us  with  a  song  of 
joy." 

We  were  now  sure  that  he  was  right, 
and  could  not  but  feel  a  slight  blush  to 
think  that  we  had  been  put  to  such 
fright  by  an  ass.  We  soon  saw  him  in 
the  wood,  and  with  him  a  friend  of 
his  own  kind,  which  I  at  once  knew 
to  be  the  wild  ass,  and  that  it  would 
be  a  great  thing  for  us  if  we  could 
catch  him. 

The  wild  ass,  as  soon  as  he  got  sight 
of  Fritz,  threw  up  his  head  and  gave 
a  start  back,  as  it  was  no  doubt  the  first 
man  that  he  had  seen.  Fritz  went  up 
to  old   Griz  with  some  oats  and    salt, 

K    2 


132  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

and  this  he  came  straight  up  to  eat  as  his 
old  treat ;  the  wild  ass,  too,  with  a  toss  of 
the  head  and  a  snuff  of  the  air,  came  so 
near  that  Fritz  could  throw  a  rope  with  a 
noose  on  his  head.  Thepoor  beast  swung 
round  to  fly  from  him,  but  that  drew 
the  cord  so  tight  as  to  stop  his  breath  ; 
so  he  lay  down  with  his  tongue  out. 
I  made  all  haste  to  throw  a  rope  round 
his  neck,  and  put  a  split  cane  on  his 
nose,  just  as  smiths  do  to  tame  a  horse 
the  first  time  they  shoe  him.  I  then 
took  off  the  noose,  and  when  I  had 
made  the  rope  fast  to  the  roots  of  two 
trees,  I  left  him  to  come  to. 

In  the  mean  time  my  wife  and  the 
rest  of  my  boys  had  come  round  us  to  see 
this  fine  beast,  whose  form  was  so  full 
of  grace  that  he  was  all  but  as  good  as 
a  horse.  In  a  short  time  he  rose,  and 
beat  the  earth  with  his  feet  to  get  loose ; 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  133 

but  the  pain  in  his  nose  made  him  lie 
down  once  more. 

We  took  care  to  tie  the  feet  of  our 
own  ass,  so  that  he  should  not  stray, 
and  when  we  had  put  a  stout  rope 
on  him  we  left  him  near  his  friend. 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

I  made  use  of  all  the  means  I  could 
think  of  to  tame  our  new  guest,  and  at 
the  end  of  a  month  I  thought  I  might 
try  to  break  him  in.  This  was  a  long 
and  tough  task.  We  first  put  some 
weights  on  his  back,  but  still  he  would 
not  let  us  mount  him. 

At  last  I  thought  of  the  mode  they 
make  use  of  in  the  Far  West  to  tame 
the   wild    horse,    and    I   made   up  my 


1 34  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

mind  to  try  it.  In  spite  of  the  bounds 
and  kicks  of  the  fierce  beast,  I  leapt  on 
his  back,  and  took  one  of  his  long  ears 
in  my  teeth  and  bit  it  till  the  blood 
came.  Up  he  went  on  his  hind  legs, 
stood  for  a  while  quite  stiff,  then  came 
down  on  his  fore  feet,  while  I  still  held 
on  by  his  ear.  At  last  I  thought  I 
might  let  him  go  ;  he  made  some  leaps, 
but  soon  went  off  in  a  sort  of  trot. 
From  that  time  he  was  quite  our  slave  ; 
my  sons  all  got  on  his  back,  and  they 
gave  him  the  name  of  Light  Foot.  I 
had  put  loose  cords  on  his  fore  legs, 
which  we  kept  on  for  some  time  ;  and, 
as  he  would  not  bear  the  bit,  we  had  to 
guide  him  by  a  stick,  with  which  we 
struck  the  right  or  left  ear,  as  we  might 
wish  him  to  go. 

As  the  time  for  the  great  rains  was 
now  at  hand,  we  had  to  make  sheds 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  135 

for  our  beasts,  to  keep  them  safe  and 
dry.  We  first  made  a  roof  on  the  top 
of  the  roots  of  our  tree.  For  this  we 
made  use  of  canes,  which  we  had  to 
bind  fast,  and  then  to  fill  the  cracks 
with  moss  and  clay,  and  smear  the 
whole  with  tar  to  keep  out  the  rain. 

By  the  aid  of  some  boards  we  made 
this  one  roof  serve  as  well  for  our  fowl 
house,  hay  house,  and  store  room. 

One  night  when  we  were  in  the  wood 
we  heard  the  loud  cries  of  some  birds, 
and  we  made  up  our  minds  that  Knips 
must  have  had  a  fight  with  some  of 
them.  So  Ned  went  off  to  see  what 
the  noise  was,  and  we  soon  heard  him 
shout  out,  "  Be  quick  !  a  fine  heath 
fowl's  nest,  full  of  eggs.  Knips  wants 
to  suck  them,  and  the  old  one  is  at 
him." 

Fritz  ran  up  and  caught  both  the  old 


136  The  Szviss  Family  Robinson. 

birds,  while  Ned  brought  back  a  large 
nest  full  of  eggs.  Knips  had  done 
us  a  good  turn  this  time ;  for  the 
nest  lay  hid  in  a  bush  with  such  long 
leaves — of  which  Ned  had  his  hand 
full — that  but  for  the  sharp  sight  of  the 
ape  we  could  not  have  found  it  out. 
I  need  not  say  how  glad  Ned  was  to 
take  the  nest  and  eggs  home  to  my 
dear  wife,  and  the  long  leaves  he  meant 
to  give  to  Frank,  to  serve  as  toy 
swords. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

We  then  set  out  on  our  way  back,  Ned 
with  the  two  fowls,  while  I  took  charge 
of  the  eggs,  which  I  found  were  still 
warm,  and  I  had  some  hopes  that  the 
bird  would  hatch  out  the  brood  when 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  137 

we  got  to  Kite's  Nest.  Fritz  rode 
Light  Foot,  and  in  his  wish  to  be  first 
to  take  the  good  news  to  my  wife,  struck 
his  steed  with  a  bunch  of  the  long  leaves 
which  he  took  from  Ned.  This  gave 
Light  Foot  such  a  start  that  he  flew 
out  of  sight,  like  a  shaft  from  a  bow, 
and  did  not  stop  till  he  got  to  his  home. 
My  wife  put  the  eggs  in  the  nest  of  one 
of  her  hens,  while  the  heath  fowl  was 
made  safe  in  a  cage  and  hung  up  in  our 
room  to  make  her  tame.  I  n  a  few  days 
a  score  of  young  chicks  came  forth  from 
the  eggs,  and  were  soon  as  tame  as  our 
own  fowls  ;  though  when  they  were  full 
grown  I  cut  their  wings,  lest  in  a  wild 
mood  they  might  fly  off. 

Frank  did  not  long  care  for  the  new 
toy  that  Ned  had  brought  him  in  the 
shape  of  the  long  leaves,  and  they  were 
thrown  on   one    side.       But    Fritz  by 


138  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

chance  took  up  some  of  these  leaves,  which 
were  now  quite  dry  and  soft,  and  he  told 
Frank  to  make  whips  of  them  to  drive 
the  sheep  and  goats,  of  which  the  small 
boy  had  charge.  As  he  split  these 
leaves  in  strips,  I  found  that  they  were 
a  kind  of  flax,  and  when  I  told  this  to 
my  wife,  she  said,  "  Bring  me  all  the 
leaves  you  can  at  once,  and  I  will 
make  you  socks,  shirts,  coats,  thread, 
cords — in  fact,  give  me  but  flax  and 
tools,  and  I  know  not  what  I  could 
not  do." 

So   Fritz  and  Jack  went  off  to  get 
a  fresh  store  of  the  leaves. 


CHAPTER     XXVII. 

In  the  mean  time  my  wife  told  me 
what     tools    I    must    make,    that    she 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  139 

might  spin  and  weave,  and  clothe 
us  from  head  to  foot ;  her  eyes  were 
bright  with  joy  as  she  spoke,  and 
I  gave  her  my  word  that  I  would  do 
all  that  she  could  ask.  In  a  short  time 
our  boys  came  back  with  a  large  store 
of  these  leaves,  which  they  laid  at  the 
feet  of  my  wife.  The  first  thing  was 
to  steep  them  till  they  were  quite  moist ; 
so  we  got  out  the  cart  and  took  a  load 
of  leaves  to  the  marsh,  where  we  threw 
them  out  in  a  pond,  with  stones  on  the 
top  to  keep  them  down. 

In  two  weeks'  time  the  flax  was  fit  to 
take  out  of  the  pond  ;  we  then  spread 
it  in  the  sun,  which  made  it  so  soon  dry 
that  we  brought  it  to  Kite's  Nest  the 
same  night,  and  laid  it  up  in  the  store. 

As  we  thought  that  the  time  of  rain 
was  now  near  at  hand,  we  brought  in,  from 
day  to  day,  loads  of  roots,  nuts,  wood, 


140  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

canes,  fruit,  and  all  that  might  be  of  use 
to  us.  We  made  the  most  of  the  last 
few  fine  days  to  sow  our  wheat  and 
grain,  that  the  rain  might  make  them 
grow.  We  had  had  a  slight  fall  of  rain, 
the  sky  was  dark  with  clouds,  and  the 
wind  rose.  We  did  not  think  the  change 
would  come  so  soon  ;  but  we  now  heard 
the  winds  rage  through  the  woods,  and 
the  sea  foam  and  roar  ;  the  clouds  burst 
in  the  sky,  and  rain  fell  night  and  day ; 
the  streams  kept  no  more  to  their 
banks,  and  the  fields  were  one  huge  lake. 
By  good  luck  we  had  made  our  home 
high  up  in  the  vale,  and  we  found  that 
we  were  left  in  a  sort  of  isle  in  the 
midst  of  the  great  flood.  But  the  rain 
came  through  the  roof  on  all  sides,  and 
from  hour  to  hour  we  thought  the  wind 
would  blow  our  house  off  the  tree,  and 
all  that  were  in  it. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  141 

We  set  to  work  to  move  our  beds 
to  the  small  space  where  the  high  roots 
of  the  trees  made  a  roof  for  our  beasts  ; 
but  there  was  no  room  to  move,  the 
smoke  of  a  fire  would  choke  us,  and 
if  we  went  out  the  rain  would  drench  us. 
For  the  first  time  since  our  wreck  we  did 
now  long  and  sigh  for  our  old  home. 

I  made  the  wild  calf  and  Light  Foot 
half  free,  but  took  care  that  they  should 
not  stray,  and  they  had  to  seek  a  roof  from 
the  boughs  of  the  tree.  We  had  need 
of  but  few  fires,  for  it  was  not  cold,  and 
we  had  not  much  that  we  could  wish  to 
cook  ;  but  we  had  a  good  store  of  milk, 
dry  meat,  fish,  and  cakes.  At  break 
of  day  we  sent  out  some  of  our  live 
stock,  round  the  necks  of  which  we  had 
put  bells ;  and  at  night  Fritz  and  I  had 
to  seek  them  and  bring  them  in,  when 
we  were  sure   to  get  wet  through.     So 


142  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

my  wife  made  us  a  sort  of  frock  with  a 
hood  out  of  some  old  clothes,  which, 
with  the  help  of  some  gum,  kept  out 
the  rain. 

The  care  of  our  beasts  took  up  the 
first  part  of  the  day,  and  then  we  had 
to  bake  our  cakes.  Though  we  had  a 
glass  door  to  our  hut,  the  dark  sky,  and 
the  vast  boughs  of  the  tree,  which  hung 
round  us,  made  the  night  come  on  much 
too  soon.  Our  light  we  had  to  fix  in 
a  gourd,  round  which  we  all  sat. 


CHAPTER     XXVIII. 

While  I  wrote  down  all  that  took 
place,  my  wife  would  mend  our  clothes, 
and  Fritz  and  Jack  taught  Frank  to 
read    and   write,    or    draw    the  plants, 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  143 

beasts,  and  birds   that   they   had  been 
struck  with. 

At  dawn,  and  at  the  end  of  each  day, 
we  read  in  turns  from  the  Book  of 
God's  Word,  which  we  had  brought 
from  the  wreck.  My  kind  wife  would 
now  and  then  give  us  a  feast  in  the 
shape  of  a  roast  fowl,  or  duck,  and  once 
in  four  or  five  days  we  had  fresh  cheese 
made  in  the  gourd  churn. 

What  was  left  at  our  meals  we  gave 
to  our  pets.  We  had  four  dogs,  a  tame 
hawk,  and  the  ape,  which  were  to  be 
fed  from  our  hands.  But  if  the  wild 
calf,  Light  Foot,  and  the  sow  could  not 
have  found  their  own  food,  they  must 
have  been  left  to  die,  for  we  had  none 
to  give  them. 

We  made  up  our  minds  that  should 
we  live  till  this  time  next  year,  we 
would    not  spend  it    in  such  a  house, 


144  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

but  that  we  would  build  a  new  one 
which  could  be  made  safe  from  the 
wind  and  rain,  and  then  come  back  to 
our  tree  at  the  warm  time  of  the  year. 

One  night  we  all  sat  round  the  fire 
to  talk  of  our  plans,  when  the  thought 
came  to  my  mind  that  we  might  choose 
as  the  place  of  our  home  the  rocks  at 
Tent  House.  This  I  knew  would  be 
a  work  of  great  toil,  but  with  time  we 
felt  sure  that  it  could  be  done. 

I  need  not  say  what  joy  we  felt  when 
at  length  we  saw  the  sun  spread  its 
bright  rays  through  the  dark  clouds ; 
the  winds  were  still,  the  floods  had 
sunk,  and  the  air  was  mild  and  calm. 
We  went  out  with  shouts  of  glee  to 
breathe  the  pure  air,  and  gaze  on  the 
fresh  grass  that  now  sprang  up  at  our 
feet. 

All  things  had  a  look  of  youth  once 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  145 

more,  and  in  the  midst  of  these 
bright  charms,  we  lost  sight  of  our 
cares,  and  sent  up  a  hymn  of  thanks  to 
the  God  of  all  good. 

Our  plants  and  seeds  had  done  well ; 
the  air  was  sweet  with  their  smell,  and 
the  songs  and  cries  of  flocks  of  birds 
that  were  at  work  with  their  nests  gave 
life  to  the  scene.  Our  first  task  was  to 
clear  out  the  rooms  where  we  slept  in 
the  tree,  and  in  a  few  days  they  were 
fit  to  dwell  in. 

My  wife  set  to  work  with  her  flax  ; 
while  my  sons  led  out  the  beasts  to 
graze.  We  then  had  to  dry  our  flax, 
and  strip,  beat,  and  comb  it ;  and  we 
drew  out  such  soft,  fine  stuff  that  my 
wife  was  wild  with  joy,  and  would  let 
me  have  no  rest  till  I  had  made  her  a 
wheel. 

In  my  youth  I  had  had  a  taste  for 


146  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

the  lathe,  and  though  I  had  now  no 
tools,  I  knew  how  a  wheel  and  a  reel 
should  be  made  ;  and  as  soon  as  I  had 
got  these  out  of  hand,  my  wife  set  to 
work  to  spin  with  so  much  zeal  that  she 
would  scarce  leave  her  wheel  to  take 
a  walk  or  to  cook  our  meals.  She  got 
Frank  to  reel  off  the  thread  as  she  spun 
it,  and  would  have  had  the  rest  take  her 
place  when  she  left  it ;  yet  none  of  them 
but  Ned  would  do  what  they  said  was 
"girls'  work.'' 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

In  the  mean  time  we  went  to  Tent 
House  to  see  the  state  of  things,  and 
found  that  the  rain  had  done  more  harm 
there  than  at  Kites  Nest.     The  storm 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  147 

had  thrown  down  the  tent,  and  blown 
off  some  of  the  sail  cloth,  and  a  great 
part  of  our  stores  were  so  wet  that  they 
were  not  good  for  food.  Our  fine  yacht 
was  still  safe,  and  fit  for  use,  but  our 
tub  boat  was  quite  spoilt. 

We  now  felt  that  we  must  have  a 
roof  to  shield  us,  more  strong  than  a 
tent  or  the  boughs  of  trees.  The  rocks 
round  Tent  House  stood  up  like  a  hard 
wall,  and  had  no  cracks  through  which 
we  could  pierce  them.  But  we  made 
up  our  minds  to  have  some  sort  of  cave 
at  all  costs.  So  we  set  to  work  to  hew 
the  stone.  We  chose  a  fine  site  for 
a  house,  with  a  view  of  the  whole  bay, 
and  of  the  two  banks  of  the  great 
stream  as  well  as  of  Swiss  Bridge. 

The  sun  had  made  the  rock  so  hard 
that  our  first  blows  made  but  a  slight 
mark  on  it.     But  at  the  end  of  five  or 

L    2 


148  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

six  days,  we  found  it  more  soft,  and  at 
last  we  came  to  a  sort  of  clay  which  we 
could  dig  out  with  spades.  This  gave 
us  hopes,  and  in  a  short  time  we  had 
made  way  to  a  depth  of  eight  feet.  One 
day  while  Jack  was  at  work  with  a  crow 
bar,  we  heard  him  call  out : 

"  I  have  cut  through  ! " 

"  Not  through  your  hand,  child  ? \ 
said  I. 

"  No,"  said  he ;  "  I  have  cut  through 
the  rock." 

Fritz  ran  in  at  the  shout,  and  told 
him  he  might  as  well  have  said  at  once 
he  had  cut  through  the  earth.  But  Jack 
said,  though  Fritz  might  laugh,  he  was 
quite  sure  he  had  felt  a  space  with  his  bar. 

I  took  a  long  pole  to  probe  the 
hole,  and  found  there  must  be  a  cave 
of  some  size.  But  as  I  put  my  face 
down  to   look   in,    a   rush  of  bad   air 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,  149 

brought  on  a  sort  of  head  ache,  and 
made  me  feel  quite  faint. 

"  Come  off,  boys,"  said  I  ;  "  the  air 
you  would  breathe  there  might  cause 
your  death." 

I  then  sent  them  to  get  some  hay,  to 
which  I  set  a  light  and  threw  it  in  the 
cave ;  but  it  was  at  once  put  out  by  the 
foul  gas. 

We  had  brought  from  the  ship  a  box 
of  squibs  ;  so  I  threw  in  some  of  these, 
and  set  a  light  to  them  by  a  long  match, 
which  gave  us  time  to  get  out  of  the 
way.  When  they  went  off  the  gas 
came  out  with  a  rush,  and  the  pure  air 
took  its  place.  I  put  in  some  more  hay 
which  burnt  with  a  bright  blaze,  so  I 
knew  that  we  were  now  safe  from  the 
gas  ;  but  for  fear  of  pits  or  pools  I 
would  not  go  in  till  we  had  some  lights. 
So  I  sent  off  Jack  on   Light  Foot  to 


150  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

tell  the  news  to  my  wife,  and  bring  all 
the  lights  they  could  find. 

Jack  went  off  with  a  crack  of  his  whip 
in  such  haste  that  he  made  my  hair 
stand  on  end.  While  he  was  gone, 
Fritz  and  I  gave  more  width  to  the 
hole,  and  swept  a  clean  road  for  my 
wife.  Just  as  we  had  done  this  we 
heard  the  sound  of  wheels  on  the  bridge, 
and  the  cart  came  in  sight,  drawn  by 
the  cow  and  ass,  while  Jack  rode  in 
front  on  Light  Foot,  and  blew  through 
his  hands  as  if  it  had  been  a  horn. 

I  then  gave  one  light  to  each,  with 
some  flints  and  a  steel  ;  and  we  took  arms 
with  us,  and  set  forth  in  a  slow  line  for  the 
heart  of  the  cave.  I  went  first,  then  my 
big  boys,  and  then  my  wife  and  Frank. 
We  had  gone  but  a  few  steps,  when  we 
came  to  a  stop,  quite  struck  with  awe ; 
the  scene  round  us  was  a  blaze  of  bright 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  151 

light,  and  we  found  that  we  were  in  a 
cave  of  gems,  which  hung  from  the  high 
roof  in  all  forms  and  shapes. 

The  floor  was  smooth  with  fine  dry 
sand.  I  broke  off  one  of  the  gems  to 
judge  what  they  were,  and  found  to  my 
great  joy  that  it  was  a  cave  of  rock 
salt.  This  was  in  truth  a  mine  of  great 
wealth  ;  for  salt  was  good  for  our  beasts 
as  well  as  for  us,  and  would  cost  us 
now  no  toil  to  get. 

Blocks  of  salt  lay  on  the  ground,  and 
I  had  some  fears  lest  more  should  fall 
on  us :  so  when  the  rest  had  left,  Fritz 
and  I  let  off  our  guns,  but  not  more 
than  two  or  three  lumps  came  down. 
We  were  now  sure  that  our  cave  was 
quite  safe  as  a  place  to  dwell  in ;  so  we 
spent  each  day  at  Tent  House  at  work 
on  our  new  home,  and  went  back  at 
night  to  Kite's  Nest. 


152  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson, 


CHAPTER     XXX. 

One  day  when  we  were  at  work  at 
the  rock  at  Tent  House  we  were  struck 
with  a  strange  sight.  A  large  part  of  the 
sea  would  seem  to  boil,  and  now  and 
then  small  flames  shot  up  and  were 
seen  no  more,  while  huge  flocks  of  sea 
birds  flew  round  it  with  loud  cries,  and 
here  and  there  took  a  plunge  in  the 
waves.  We  ran  down  to  the  bay  and 
found  that  this  was  a  shoal  of  fish,  so 
dense  that  they  were  like  a  sand  bank 
some  miles  in  length.  We  sent  at  once 
for  our  pails  to  hold  them,  and  made 
plans  as  to  how  we  should  take  so  rich 
a  prize.  Fritz  and  Jack  stood  up  to 
their  waists  in  the  sea,  and  threw  them 
up  on  the  sand.     My   wife   and   Ned 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson,  153 

then  set  to  work  to  clean  them  and  rub 
them  with  salt,  that  we  might  have  a 
store  of  them  for  the  cold  time  of  the 
year. 

These  fish  drew  to  the  spot  a  shoal 
of  sea  dogs,  some  of  which  we  caught 
for  the  sake  of  their  skin  and  oil,  which 
we  might  burn  in  lamps  or  use  for 
soap. 

At  this  time  I  put  my  sledge  on 
wheels  that  I  took  from  the  guns  of  the 
ship,  and  made  it  so  low  that  we  could 
place  great  weights  on  it. 

In  a  month  we  had  one  more  shoal 
of  fish,  which  Jack  was  the  first  to  find 
out.  They  were  so  large  that  he  was 
sure  they  must  be  whales.  Jack  ran  at 
once  for  his  bow,  and  made  fast  a  ball 
of  string  to  a  dart  with  a  hook  at  the 
end  of  it.  He  then  made  the  ball  safe 
on  the  shore,  took  his  bow,  put  the  dart 


154  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

in  it,  and  shot  a  large  fish  in  the  side. 
The  fish  fought  hard  to  get  free,  but  at 
length  weak  with  the  loss  of  blood,  we 
drew  him  to  the  land  with  the  cord,  and 
put  an  end  to  him. 

Ned  took  his  rod  and  caught  some 
trout,  while  I  struck  some  huge  fish 
with  a  large  prong.  The  hard  part  of 
our  task  was  to  get  the  spoil  to  land. 
Fritz  had  struck  a  fish  of  at  least  eight 
feet  long,  which  was  more  than  a  match 
for  us  all,  till  my  wife  brought  up  Light 
Foot,  to  whom  we  bound  the  line,  and 
so  got  this  great  prize  to  shore. 

As  we  had  more  fish  than  we  could 
eat,  we  had  to  dry  and  salt  some,  or 
boil  them  in  oil ;  and  the  roe  of  the 
large  fish  we  kept  by  us  as  a  great 
treat. 

When  this  was  done,  our  next  task 
was  to  plan  a  boat  to  take  the  place  of 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  155 

our  tub  raft.  I  had  a  great  wish  to 
make  one  of  bark,  as  the  wild  men  do  : 
so  we  set  out  in  search  of  a  tree  for 
that  end.  All  those  near  our  house 
were  worth  too  much  to  cut  down,  some 
for  their  fruit  and  some  for  their  shade : 
so  we  made  up  our  minds  to  search  for 
trees  a  good  way  off,  and  on  the  road 
we  took  stock  of  our  plants  and  fields. 
Our  peas,  beans,  maize,  and  canes  had 
grown  well,  and  the  pines  on  the  high 
ground  gave  us  hopes  of  a  rich  feast. 

One  fine  day  we  set  out  for  Kite's 
Nest  to  see  the  state  of  things  there. 
We  found  my  wife's  fields  of  wheat, 
oats,  and  beans  were  for  the  most  part 
fit  to  cut,  though  our  best  crop  was  the 
maize.  But  birds  of  all  kinds,  from  the 
heath  fowl  to  the  quail,  had  made  their 
homes  round  them,  and  it  would  seem 
that  they  did  not  mean  to  leave  much 


156  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

for  us.  Fritz  let  loose  his  hawk  and 
flew  it  at  some  of  them.  The  bird  at 
once  went  up  in  the  air  and  shot  down 
on  a  fine  fowl,  which  it  laid  at  the  feet 
of  Fritz.  We  got,  too,  a  score  of  fat 
quails,  which  made  a  nice  feast  for  us. 
My  wife  made  some  juice  of  green 
maize,  and  this  was  a  sweet  and  fresh 
drink,  as  white  as  milk. 

We  then  put  to  rights  our  house  at 
Kite's  Nest,  and  laid  by  our  wheat  till 
we  should  have  time  to  thrash  and 
grind  it.  Fritz  thought  we  could  build 
a  mill  on  the  stream  ;  but  for  this  bold 
scheme,  as  yet,  we  had  not  time. 

The  next  day  we  set  out  on  a  tour  to 
look  out  for  a  spot  on  which  to  build 
a  farm  house  for  some  of  our  live  stock, 
where  they  could  find  their  own  food. 
My  wife  chose  out  twelve  young  fowls, 
and  I  took  four  young  pigs,  four  sheep, 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  157 

and  two  goats.  These,  with  all  the 
tools  which  we  might  need,  were  put  in 
the  cart,  and  drawn  by  Light  Foot,  the 
cow,  and  our  old  friend,  the  ass.  Fritz 
rode  first  on  Light  Foot  to  guide  us ; 
and  on  the  road  we  found  some  new 
trees  and  plants,  which  were  of  great 
use  to  us. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

When  we  had  made  our  way  through 
the  high  grass  of  the  plain,  we  came  to 
the  top  of  a  hill,  from  which  we  had  a 
grand  view  of  the  land  that  lay  at  our 
feet.  Trees  grew  thick  on  the  sides  of 
the  hill,  and  made  a  screen  from  the 
north  wind,  and  a  fine  stream  ran 
through   the   rich  fields.      We  saw  at 


158  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

once  that  we  must  make  this  the  site  of 
our  farm. 

We  set  up  our  tent,  made  a  fire,  and 
went  to  work  to  cook  some  food. 
Fritz  and  I  then  went  in  search  of  a 
spot  on  which  to  build  our  farm  house, 
and  we  chose  a  group  of  trees  which 
grew  so  close  as  to  make  quite  a  wall 
of  wood.  Here  we  brought  our  tools, 
but  as  the  day  was  far  gone,  we  went 
back  to  sleep  in  our  tent.  In  our 
search  for  trees  and  bark,  our  goats  led 
us  to  find  out  a  rare  kind  of  spice,  and 
some  gum  which  would  take  the  place 
of  pitch  for  the  boat  we  meant  to 
make. 

We  went  on  with  our  work  at  the 
new  farm  house,  which  took  us  some 
days.  We  made  the  walls  of  thin 
laths  and  reeds,  six  feet  high,  and  we 
took  care  to  let  in  light  and  air.     One 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  159 

room  was  for  our  own  use  when  we 
chose  to  come  to  the  farm,  and  all  the 
rest  was  kept  for  our  live  stock.  But 
we  could  not  get  on  fast  with  our  work 
from  want  of  skill. 

While  Fritz  and  Jack  had  gone  to 
Kite's  Nest  to  bring  back  a  fresh  stock 
of  food,  Ned  and  I  thought  we  would 
make  a  short  tour.  We  went  up  the 
stream  for  some  time,  which  led  us  to  a 
large  marsh,  and  here  we  found  a  lake 
full  of  wild  fowl.  Round  this  lake 
there  grew  some  tall  thick  grass,  with 
ears  of  grain,  which  I  found  to  be  a 
small  kind  of  rice  ;  and  we  took  some 
of  it  home  to  show  to  our  good  cook, 
who  would  I  knew  think  it  a  great 
boon. 

We  then  went  round  the  lake,  where 
a  new  scene  burst  on  our  view  on  each 
side.      In   the   mean   time    Ned,  with 


1 60  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

great  skill,  brought  down  some  birds, 
while  Knips  found  out  some  choice 
fruits.  In  the  midst  of  the  birds  of  all 
kinds,  we  were  most  struck  with  a  pair 
of  black  swans,  and  it  was  a  treat  to 
stand  and  watch  them  glide,  like  a  ship 
in  full  sail,  on  the  bright  face  of  this 
clear  lake.  Ned  would  have  shot  some 
more  birds,  but  I  bade  him  not  break 
the  charm  which  the  hush  of  the  scene 
gave  to  it.  As  to  the  lake,  none  but  a 
Swiss,  who  from  his  youth  looks  on 
such  scenes,  can  judge  of  the  joy  we 
felt.  We  thought  we  were  once  more 
in  our  own  dear  land,  but  the  huge 
trees  and  the  rare  plants  put  us 
in  mind  how  far  we  were  from  it. 

One  of  the  dogs  caught  a  most 
strange  beast  as  it  swam  at  the  edge 
of  the  lake,  and  brought  it  to  us.  It 
had  web  feet,  a  thick  tail,  small  head 


/ 

The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  1 6 1 

and  ears,  and  a  long  flat  bill,  like  that 
of  a  duck.  None  of  us  knew  what 
it  was :  so  I  gave  it  the  name  of  the 
beast  with  a  bill,  and  I  told  Ned  to 
take  it  home  and  stuff  it. 

On  our  way  back  to  Kite's  Nest 
we  went  through  the  wood  of  apes, 
when  the  rogues  threw  a  cloud  of  fir 
cones  at  us  ;  but  a  few  shots  put  them  to 
flight.  The  cones  were  of  use  to  us,  so 
we  took  a  bag  of  them  home. 

We  then  came  to  a  small  hill,  from 
the  top  of  which  we  had  a  view  of  rich 
plains,  streams,  and  woods  full  of  bright 
plants  and  gay  birds.  "  Here,  my 
boys,"  said  I,  "here  we  will  build  a 
house  for  the  hot  time  of  the  year." 
In  ten  days  from  this  time  we  had  built 
a  house,  and  we  gave  it  the  name  of 
View  Hill. 

But  I  had  not  yet  met  with  a  tree 

M 


1 62  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

that  would  suit  me  for  a  boat.  So  we 
went  back,  and  at  last  I  chose  a  sort  of 
oak,  the  bark  of  which  was  more  like 
that  of  the  cork  tree.  We  first  had  to 
fell  it,  which  took  us  some  time ;  and 
then  we  cut  out  the  trunk  in  the  shape 
of  a  boat,  though  we  made  it  look  more 
like  a  trough  ;  and  it  was  then  left  in 
the  sun  to  dry. 

As  there  was  still  much  to  do  to  it,  I 
sent  Fritz  and  Jack  to  Tent  House 
for  the  sledge,  that  we  might  move  the 
boat  there.  We  now  set  hard  to  work 
at  it,  and  made  a  mast,  a  keel,  seats, 
brass  rings  for  the  oars,  and  stays  for 
the  mast.  To  give  it  weight,  I  put 
down  some  stones  and  clay  with  boards 
on  the  top,  and  we  could  then  boast 
that  our  boat  was  fit  for  sea. 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  163 

CHAPTER     XXXII. 

In  the  mean  time  our  cow  had  borne 
a  young  male  calf :  so  as  the  rest  of  the 
boys  had  steeds  to  ride,  I  gave  it  to 
Frank  to  teach  and  train. 

We  now  spent  all  our  time  at  the 
cave  at  Tent  House,  that  we  might  have 
it  warm  and  snug  when  the  rain  and  cold 
should  come.  The  beams  and  planks 
from  the  ship  were  a  great  help  to  us 
when  we  made  the  rooms  that  we 
meant  to  live  in,  but  the  part  for  our 
live  stock  we  built  of  stone  to  keep  out 
the  smell.  The  floor  we  made  of  a 
sort  of  clay,  which,  when  dry,  was 
smooth  and  hard,  and  on  it  we  put 
sail  cloth,  wool,  and  goat's  hair,  which 
with  some  gum  made  a  kind  of  felt. 
We  made  one  of  these  felt   cloths  for 


164  The  Swiss  Family  Robinson. 

each  room  to  keep  out  the  damp  ;  so 
that  when  the  rain  came  at  last,  we  had 
a  warm  and  safe  home.  At  break  of 
day  we  went  to  our  work  room,  while 
my  wife  took  her  wheel  or  her  loom, 
and  I  made  a  sort  of  lathe  out  of  the 
wheel  of  a  gun,  with  which  Ned 
could  turn  some  neat  things  with  much 
skill. 

Our  room  was  bright  with  lights, 
which  we  did  not  spare,  as  we  could  get 
them  with  so  much  ease.  For  Jack 
and  Frank  I  made  flutes  out  of  reeds, 
on  which  they  soon  learnt  to  play  well, 
and  my  wife,  who  had  a  good  voice, 
sang  to  their  notes. 

I  made  a  small  church  in  that  part 
of  the  cave  which  shone  with  so  bright 
a  light,  and  here  we  went  each  day 
to  pray.  Thus  we  spent  our  days  free 
from  care   and   gloom.     As  far  as  we 


The  Swiss  Family  Robinson.  165 

knew,  we  might  have  to  pass  the  rest  of 
our  lives  on  this  lone  shore.  We  had 
good  health  and  sound  hearts,  so  that 
we  could  work  with  a  will,  and  our 
minds  grew  more  full  and  strong  from 
day  to  day. 

We  saw  round  us  on  all  sides  the 
signs  of  a  wise  and  good  God.  In 
Him  I  put  my  trust  that  He  would 
give  us  back  to  the  world,  or  send  some 
friends  to  join  us  in  the  isle,  where  for 
two  years  we  had  seen  no  trace  of  man. 
To  Him  did  our  hearts  turn,  and  to 
Him  we  left  our  fate. 


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this  work,  in  order  to  bring  it  down  to  the  reqairements  of  the  present  time.  In  carrying 
out  this  plan  effectually,  EVERY  BOY'S  BOOK  has  been  almost  entirely  rc-wiitten  ; 
and  scarcely  ai.y  thing  remains  of  the  old  work  except  the  title. 

All  the  articles  that  were  in  the  former  edition  have  been  thoroughly  revised,  and  papers 
on  Boxing,  Canoeing,  Croquet,  Fives,  Golf,  Rackets,  Sliding,  Billiards,  Bagatelle,  Domi- 
noes. Spectrum  Analysis,  Canaries,  Hedgehogs,  Jackdaws,  Jays,  Magpies,  Owls,  Parrots, 
Ravens,  Cryptography,  Deaf  and  Dumb  Alphabet,  Mimicry  and  Ventriloquism,  Shows, 
Stamp  Collecting,  and  Tinseling,  appear  now  for  the  first  time. 


THE 

Boy's   Play  Book  of  Science : 

including  the 
Various  Manipulations  and  Arrangements 
of 
Chemical  and  Philosophical  Apparatus  required  for  the  successful  perform- 
ance of  scientific  experiments, 
In  Illustration  of  the  elementary  branches  of  Chemistry  and 
Natural  Philosophy. 

By  JOHN  HENRY  PEPPER. 

NEW  EDITION, 

ILLUSTRATED    WITH   470   ENGRAVINGS, 

Chiefly  Executed  from  the  Author's  Sketches, 

BY  H.  G.  HINE. 

Crown  8vo,  Cloth,  Price  $2.00. 


The  Play  Book  of  Metals  : 

including 

Personal  narratives  of  visits  lo  Coal,  Lead,  Copper,  and  Tin  Mines ; 
WITH 

A  large  number  of   interesting  experiments,    relating  to  Alchemy  and  the 
Chemistry  of  the  fifty  metallic  elements. 

By   JOHN   HENRY   PEPPER, 

Author  of  the  "  Play  Book  of  Science." 

WITH   THREE  HUNDRED  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

A  New  Edition. 
Crown    8vo,    Cloth,    $2.25. 


Illustrated  Editions  of  Stories  and  Tales  by 

Hans  C.  Andersen. 

TRANSLATED  BY  W.  H.  DULCKEN,  Ph.  D. 


STORIES  FOR  THE  HOUSEHOLD.  With  220  illustrations  by  A. 
W.  Bayes,  engraved  by  the  Brothers  Dalziel,  large  crown  8vo,  800 
pages $3   50. 

IVHAT  THE  MOON  SAW,  and  other  Tales.  With  80  illustrations, 
engraved  by  the  Brothers  Dalziel,  square  8vo,  bevelled  boards,  extra 
cloth $2   50. 

STORIES  AND  TALES.  A  new  Edition,  enlarged.  Illustrated  with 
80  engravings  by  Dalziel  Brothers,  from  designs  by  A.  W.  Bayes,  square 
8vo,  bevelled  boards,  extra  cloth $2   50. 

OUT  OF  THE  HEART.  Spoken  to  the  Little  Ones.  With  16  full 
page  illustrations,  printed  In  colors,  and  50  plain  engravings,  square 
i6mo,  cloth $1   75. 


THE  HANS  ANDERSEN  LIBRARY  FOR  THE  YOUNG, 

Each   volume  containing  a  variety  of  stories,  a  frontispiece  in  colors,  and  an 
average  of  16  pictures,  12  volumes,  fcap.  8vo,  cloth,  in  box   $10  00. 

The  Red  Shoes.  The  Silver  Shilling. 

The  Little  Match-Girl.  The  Darning  Needle. 

The  Tinder-Box.  The  Goloshes  of  Fortune. 

The  Marsh  King's  Daughter.  Every  Thing  in  its  Right  Place. 

The  Wild  Swans.  Under  the  Willow- Tree. 

The  Old  Church  Bell.  The  Ice  Maiden. 

"Andersen  is  a  writer  who  can  not  be  praised  too  highly.  His  dogs  and 
birds  and  foxes  are  not  like  ./Esop's  dwarfed  and  miniature  men,  but  they 
ire  rational  dogs  and  birds  and  foxes,  possessed  of  a  genuine  canine,  avine, 
and  vulpine  intellect,  or  intelligence  at  any  rate." — Saturday  Review. 


LILLIPUT  LEVEE. 

Poems  of  childhood,  child-fancy,  and  childlike  moods.  With  Jlustra- 
tions  by  J.  E.  Millais,  G.  J.  Pinwell,  and  others.  A  neiu  edition  for 
America,  -with  additional  poems,  square  l6mo,  extra  cloth,  full  gilt  side,  75 
cents,  or  full  gilt  sides  and  gilt  edges $1   00. 

"  Read  it,  all  you  lucky  young  folks,  and  be  grateful  to  your  bene- 
factor, the  unknown  author  of  Lilliput  Levee."* — Chambers   Journal. 

DEALINGS  WITH  THE  FAIRIES. 

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cloth  extra,  gilt  edges,  (uniform  with  "Lilliput  Levee.") <$i   15. 

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again,  did  more ;  for  while  we  were  reading,  so  great  was  the  magic  of  the 
enchanter's  wand,  we  became  young  once  more,  and  clapped  our  venerable 
hands  over  the  tears  of  the  Light  Princess  and  the  groans  of  Mr.  Thunder- 
thump."—  British  Quarterly  Review. 

-ESOFS  FABLES. 

A  new  edition,  edited  by  Edward  Garrett,  M.  A.  With  one  hundred 
illustrations  by  J.  Wolf,  J.  B.  Zwecker,  and  T.  Dalziel,  square  1 6mo,  extra 
cloth,  gilt  edges,  (uniform  with  "Lilliput  Levee.") $1   2.5. 

SCHNICK   SCHNACK. 

Trifles  for  the  Little  Ones.  With  thirty-two  pages  of  illustrations,  beauti- 
fully  printed  in  colors,  square  8vo,  cloth $1    75. 


THE  CHILD'S  COUNTRY-BOOK, 

In  words  of  two  syllables,   by  Thomas  Miller.     With    16  colored  illustra- 
tions, square  Svo,  cloth,  gilt  side $1    75. 


THE  CHILD'S  COUNTRY  STORY-BOOK 

By  Thomas  Miller.      Uniform  with  "The  Child's  Country-Book."     With 
eight  colored  illustrations,  square  Svo,  cloth $1   75. 


-t&f 


Little    Lays    for   Little   Folk, 

SELECTED  BY  JOHN  G.  WATTS, 

From  the  poems  and  songs  of 

W.  C.  Bryant,  Thomas  Millek, 

Janc  Taylor,  Mks.  Barbauld, 

Lucy   Aiken,  William   Wordsworth, 

Mary  Howitt,  Caroline  Bowles, 

And  many  others. 

Illustrated  with  many  hundred  engravings  and  ornamental  borders, 
arranged  and  executed  in  the  highest  style  of  art  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  James  D.  Cooper.     Extra  cloth,  full  gilt  side  and  edges...   $4  00. 

"  By  far  the  most  beautiful  child's  book  we  have  ever  seen It 

is  not  easy  to  speak  of  these  designs  as  they  deserve,  the  majority  of  them 
are  so  excellent,  even  the  smallest  showing  some  touch  of  beauty  or  grace." 
—  Tie  Round  Table. 

"Little  Loyi  is  by  all  odds  the  prettiest  volume  of  the  season  " — The 
Albion. 


UNIFORM  WITH  THE  ABOVE, 

ORIGINAL  POEMS  FOR  INFANT  MINDS. 

BY   JANE    AND    E.    TAYLOR. 

With  114  illustrations  from  original  drawings  by  the  best  artists. 
Engraved  by  J.  D.  Cooper,  small  4to,  extra  cloth,  full  gilt  side  and 
edges $4  00. 

"  Here  are  verses  for  children,  all  good,  and  all  inculcating  the  best  and 
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sins  of  gluttony  and  idleness." — Saturday  Rcvieio. 

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&  Sons  will  endear  themselves  to  all  the  little  folks  if  they  issue  many 
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t£- 


ILLUSTRATED  WORKS  ON 

NATURAL    HISTORY, 


FOR  YOUNG  PEOPLE. 


BY  THE  REV.  J.  G.  WOOD,  M.A.,  F.L.S. 


NATURAL  HISTORT  PICTURE-BOOK.  Mammalia.  With  two 
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NATURAL  HISTORY  PICTURE-BOOK.  Birds.  With  two  hun- 
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others,  small  4to,  cloth $2  oo. 

NATURAL  HISTORT  PICTURE-BOOK.  Re?tiles,  Fishes,  In- 
sects, &c.  With  two  hundred  and  forty  illustrations  by  Wolf, 
Zwecker,  Weir,  Coleman,  and  others,  small  4*0,  cloth...   $2  00. 

P..OUTLEDGES  POPULAR  NATURAL  HISTORY.  By  the  Rev. 
J.  G.  Wood.  Being  the  above  three  bound  in  one  volume.  Contain- 
ing upwards  of  seven  hundred  engravings  by  the  best  artists,  small 
4to,  cloth,  gilt  edges,  750  pages $6  00, 

fPOOD'S  NATURAL  HISTORY.  A  new  edition,  revised  and  enlarged. 
Illustrated  with  four   hundred  and  eighty  original  designs  by  William 

Harvey,  crown   8vo,  cloth $2  00. 

%*  From  its  systematic  arrangement,  fullneis  of  illustration,  clearness  of  type,  and  its 

low  price,  this  will  be  found  an  admirable  text-book  for  higher  classes  in  schools. 


